Systems and methods for automated and direct  network positioning

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for automated and direct network positioning are disclosed herein. The system can include memory that can include a content library database and a structure sub-database. The system can include at least one server. The at least one server can: receive a data packet previously unassociated with the hierarchy in the structure sub-database; identify one of the plurality of positions within the hierarchy for the data packet; receive user information; present a series of assessment data packets to the user; receive a response from the user subsequent to presentation of each of the assessment data packets; evaluate the received responses; adjust a location of the user within the hierarchy based on the evaluating of the received responses; and present a content data packet to the user.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/651,004, filed on Mar. 30, 2018, and entitled “AUTOGENERATION OF MATH EXERCISES WITH STEP-LEVEL EXPRESSION TREES AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES TAGGED FOR USE WITH MOBILE OCR TECHNOLOGIES IN INNER LOOP ADAPTIVE LEARNING MODELS”, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

A computer network or data network is a telecommunications network which allows computers to exchange data. In computer networks, networked computing devices exchange data with each other along network links (data connections). The connections between nodes are established using either cable media or wireless media. The best-known computer network is the Internet.

Network computer devices that originate, route, and terminate the data are called network nodes. Nodes can include hosts such as personal computers, phones, servers, as well as networking hardware. Two such devices can be said to be networked together when one device is able to exchange information with the other device, whether or not they have a direct connection to each other.

Computer networks differ in the transmission media used to carry their signals, the communications protocols to organize network traffic, the network's size, topology and organizational intent. In most cases, communications protocols are layered on (i.e. work using) other more specific or more general communications protocols, except for the physical layer that directly deals with the transmission media.

BRIEF SUMMARY

One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a system for automated and direct network positioning. The system includes a memory including a content library database containing: a plurality of assessment data packets and a plurality of content data packets; and a structure sub-database identifying a hierarchy with which each of the plurality of assessment data packets and each of the content data packets are associated. In some embodiments, the hierarchy includes a plurality of positions. The system can include at least one server. The at least one server can: receive a data packet previously unassociated with the hierarchy in the structure sub-database; identify one of the plurality of positions within the hierarchy for the data packet; receive user information; present a series of assessment data packets to the user; receive a response from the user subsequent to presentation of each of the assessment data packets; evaluate the received responses; adjust a location of the user within the hierarchy based on the evaluating of the received responses; and present a content data packet to the user. In some embodiments, the content data packet is selected for presenting to the user based on the adjusted location of the user within the hierarchy.

In some embodiments, the series of assessment data packets can include the received data packet. In some embodiments, the presented content data packet can include the received data packet. In some embodiments, the location of the user within the hierarchy is adjusted according to a machine-learning model. In some embodiments, each of the assessment data packets is unassociated with an independent difficulty level.

In some embodiments, the difficulty level of each of the assessment data packets is represented by the position of each of the assessment data packets in the hierarchy. In some embodiments, presenting a series of assessment data packets includes: determining an instantaneous user location in the hierarchy; selecting an assessment data packet based on the instantaneous user location in the hierarchy; and presenting the selected assessment data packet to the user. In some embodiments, evaluating user responses includes: determine correctness of received response; determining an adjustment to the instantaneous user location in the hierarchy based on the correctness of the received response; and updating the instantaneous user location in the hierarchy according to the adjustment.

In some embodiments, determining an adjustment to the instantaneous user location in the hierarchy includes: determining for a plurality of positions within the hierarchy a probability of the user correctly responding to assessment data packets of each of those plurality of positions within the hierarchy according to a logistic model; comparing the probabilities of the user correctly responding to the assessment data packets with a mastery threshold; and identifying the lowest position within the hierarchy for which the probability of the user correctly responding to the assessment data packets of that position fails to meet or exceed the mastery threshold. In some embodiments, the logistic model comprises a three parameter logistic model. In some embodiments, the three parameter logistic model determines a probability of the user correctly responding to assessment data packets of a position within the hierarchy according to the user's instantaneous user location in the hierarchy.

In some embodiments, the user's instantaneous user location in the hierarchy is determined according to a estimation method. In some embodiments, the estimation method includes an expected a posteriori (EAP) estimation method. In some embodiments, the assessment data packet is selected in part based on information criterion values, which information criterion can be Fisher information, calculated for assessment data packets available for selecting. In some embodiments, one of the assessment data packets is available for selecting when the one of the assessment data packets is not previously presented to the user. In some embodiments, selecting the assessment data packet based on information criterion values includes: identifying assessment data packets available for selecting; calculating a information criterion value for each of the of the assessment data packets available for selecting calculating an average information criterion value for each position in the hierarchy from the information criterion values of the assessment data packets associated with each position in the hierarchy; identifying the position in the hierarchy having the highest average information criterion value; and selecting one of the assessment data packets associated with the position in the hierarchy identified as having the highest average information criterion value. In some embodiments, the one of the assessment data packets is randomly selected from the assessment data packets of the position in the hierarchy identified as having the highest average information criterion value.

One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method for automated and direct network positioning. The method includes: receiving user information from a user; presenting a series of assessment data packets to the user; receiving a response from the user subsequent to presentation of each of the assessment data packets; evaluating the received responses; adjusting a location of the user within the hierarchy based on the evaluating of the received responses; and presenting a content data packet to the user. In some embodiments, the content data packet is selected for presenting to the user based on the adjusted location of the user within the hierarchy.

In some embodiments, the method includes: receiving a data packet previously unassociated with the hierarchy in the structure sub-database; and identifying one of the plurality of positions within the hierarchy for the data packet; and associating the received data packet with the one of the positions within the hierarchy. In some embodiments, the series of assessment data packets includes the received data packet, and/or the presented content data packet includes the received data packet. In some embodiments, presenting a series of assessment data packets includes: determining an instantaneous user location in the hierarchy; selecting an assessment data packet based on the instantaneous user location in the hierarchy; and presenting the selected assessment data packet to the user. In some embodiments, evaluating user responses includes: evaluating the received response; determining an adjustment to the instantaneous user location in the hierarchy; and updating the instantaneous user location in the hierarchy according to the adjustment.

One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a system for automated user interface customization. The system includes memory containing a content library database including a plurality of assessment data packets and a plurality of content data packets. The system includes at least one server. The at least one server can: receive user information, which user information identifies a user; direct launch of a user interface on a user device, the user interface including a plurality of windows in which content is presented to the user and in which a user response is received; present assessment data packets to the user via the user interface; generate a readiness value based on user responses received to the presented assessment data packets; progressively deactivate functionalities of the user interface as the readiness value increases; and trigger delivery of a mastery assessment when the readiness value exceeds a threshold.

In some embodiments, the at least one server can: retrieve a mastery threshold; and compare the readiness value to the mastery threshold. In some embodiments, generating the readiness value includes: identifying a set of responses received from the user; determining usage of mastery facilitators associated with the identified set of responses received from the user; and generating a score for the identified set of responses. In some embodiments, the functionalities of the first user interface include content presentation functionalities. In some embodiments, the content presentation functionalities can include mastery facilitators.

In some embodiments, the at least one server can further retrieve a plurality of deactivation thresholds, each of which plurality of deactivation thresholds is associated with a readiness value and functionality for deactivation when the deactivation threshold is met or exceeded. In some embodiments, the deactivation of functionalities of the user interface include modifying the user interface.

In some embodiments, the at least one server can further select and present content to the user until a termination criterion is met. In some embodiments, the termination criterion includes a mastery threshold. In some embodiments, the set of responses can include four responses.

One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method for automated user interface customization. The method includes: receiving user information from a user device at least one server, which user information identifies a user; directing with the at least one server launch of a user interface on the user device, the user interface including a plurality of windows in which content is presented to the user and in which a user response is received; presenting assessment data packets to the user via the user interface; generating a readiness value based on user responses received to the presented assessment data packets; progressively deactivating functionalities of the user interface as the readiness value increases; and triggering delivery of a mastery assessment when the readiness value exceeds a threshold.

In some embodiments, the method includes: retrieving a mastery threshold; and comparing the readiness value to the mastery threshold. In some embodiments, generating the readiness value includes: identifying a set of responses received from the user; determining usage of mastery facilitators associated with the identified set of responses received from the user; and generating a score for the identified set of responses. In some embodiments, the functionalities of the first user interface include content presentation functionalities. In some embodiments, the content presentation functionalities comprise mastery facilitators.

In some embodiments, the method can include retrieving a plurality of deactivation thresholds. In some embodiments, each of the plurality of deactivation thresholds is associated with a readiness value and functionality for deactivation when the deactivation threshold is met or exceeded. In some embodiments, the deactivation of functionalities of the user interface includes modifying the user interface.

In some embodiments, the method includes iteratively selecting and presenting content to the user until a termination criterion is met. In some embodiments, the termination criterion can be a mastery threshold. In some embodiments, the set of responses comprises four responses.

Further areas of applicability of the present disclosure will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating various embodiments, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to necessarily limit the scope of the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a content distribution network.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a computer server and computing environment within a content distribution network.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of one or more data store servers within a content distribution network.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of one or more content management servers within a content distribution network.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the physical and logical components of a special-purpose computer device within a content distribution network.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the communication network.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of user device and supervisor device communication.

FIG. 8 is a schematic illustration of one embodiment of a computing stack.

FIG. 9 is a schematic illustration of one embodiment of communication and processing flow of modules within the content distribution network.

FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of one embodiment of communication and processing flow of modules within the content distribution network.

FIG. 11 is a schematic illustration of one embodiment of communication and processing flow of modules within the content distribution network.

FIG. 12 is a schematic illustration of one embodiment of communication and processing flow of modules within the content distribution network.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a process for data management.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a process for evaluating a response.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a process for automated determining of user position within the hierarchy.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a process for data packet presentation.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a process for evaluating user responses.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a process for determining the adjustment to the instantaneous user location.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a process for selecting an assessment data packet.

FIG. 20 is a schematic illustration of one embodiment of an exemplary user interface (UX).

FIG. 21 is flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a process for automated user interface customization.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a process 870 for generating a readiness score.

In the appended figures, similar components and/or features may have the same reference label. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a second label that distinguishes among the similar components. If only the first reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label irrespective of the second reference label.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The ensuing description provides illustrative embodiment(s) only and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the disclosure. Rather, the ensuing description of the illustrative embodiment(s) will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing a preferred exemplary embodiment. It is understood that various changes can be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit and scope as set forth in the appended claims.

Current machine learning models for grading are large and cumbersome models. These are trained with large sets of training data and are not customized to the tendencies of a single specific grader. Due to the reliance of these models on large sets of training data, these models can be used in circumstances with smaller set of data. Specifically, as the size of the set of training data decreases, the accuracy of the model diminishes.

While these models are, in some aspects, satisfactory for grading large numbers of responses to the same question or prompt, they can be unsatisfactory in other circumstances. Limitations of these models are particularly apparent in their inability to be used in grading and/or evaluating small numbers of responses to unique questions and/or according to unique or customized criteria. Thus, while grading technology has improved for large-scale testing, grading for small-scale testing still relies on human graders.

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for providing customizable machine learning grading. This can include the customizing of a model according to one or several attributes of the teacher and/or the teachers grading preference. In some embodiments, this can include the generating and/or customizing of one or several models for grading custom prompts. The training and/or customization of the models can include identification and use of pre-existing data to perform a portion of the training. The use of the pre-existing data can effectively increase the size of the set of training data. In some embodiments, training can be further accelerated by the identification of one or several responses for manual grading, which one or several responses can be identified as representative of some or all of the received responses. Due to the representativeness of these identified one or several responses, their manual grading and inclusion in the training set can accelerate the completion training.

The training and customization of the models can include iterative retraining of the model and/or iterative generation of new piece of training data based on inputs received from a user such as the customizer the model. In some embodiments, for example, after the model has been trained, evaluation output of the model can be provided to the user. The user can provide feedback, which can include acceptance of the results indicated in the evaluation output and/or a request for further training of the model.

Systems and methods according to the disclosure herein accelerate training of machine learning models and improve performance of machine learning models trained with small data sets. Further, systems and methods according to the disclosure herein provide for automated grading of custom and/or customized prompts

With reference now to FIG. 1, a block diagram is shown illustrating various components of a content distribution network (CDN) 100 which implements and supports certain embodiments and features described herein. In some embodiments, the content distribution network 100 can comprise one or several physical components and/or one or several virtual components such as, for example, one or several cloud computing components. In some embodiments, the content distribution network 100 can comprise a mixture of physical and cloud computing components.

Content distribution network 100 may include one or more content management servers 102. As discussed below in more detail, content management servers 102 may be any desired type of server including, for example, a rack server, a tower server, a miniature server, a blade server, a mini rack server, a mobile server, an ultra-dense server, a super server, or the like, and may include various hardware components, for example, a motherboard, a processing unit, memory systems, hard drives, network interfaces, power supplies, etc. Content management server 102 may include one or more server farms, clusters, or any other appropriate arrangement and/or combination or computer servers. Content management server 102 may act according to stored instructions located in a memory subsystem of the server 102, and may run an operating system, including any commercially available server operating system and/or any other operating systems discussed herein.

The content distribution network 100 may include one or more data store servers 104, such as database servers and file-based storage systems. The database servers 104 can access data that can be stored on a variety of hardware components. These hardware components can include, for example, components forming tier 0 storage, components forming tier 1 storage, components forming tier 2 storage, and/or any other tier of storage. In some embodiments, tier 0 storage refers to storage that is the fastest tier of storage in the database server 104, and particularly, the tier 0 storage is the fastest storage that is not RAM or cache memory. In some embodiments, the tier 0 memory can be embodied in solid state memory such as, for example, a solid-state drive (SSD) and/or flash memory.

In some embodiments, the tier 1 storage refers to storage that is one or several higher performing systems in the memory management system, and that is relatively slower than tier 0 memory, and relatively faster than other tiers of memory. The tier 1 memory can be one or several hard disks that can be, for example, high-performance hard disks. These hard disks can be one or both of physically or communicatively connected such as, for example, by one or several fiber channels. In some embodiments, the one or several disks can be arranged into a disk storage system, and specifically can be arranged into an enterprise class disk storage system. The disk storage system can include any desired level of redundancy to protect data stored therein, and in one embodiment, the disk storage system can be made with grid architecture that creates parallelism for uniform allocation of system resources and balanced data distribution.

In some embodiments, the tier 2 storage refers to storage that includes one or several relatively lower performing systems in the memory management system, as compared to the tier 1 and tier 2 storages. Thus, tier 2 memory is relatively slower than tier 1 and tier 0 memories. Tier 2 memory can include one or several SATA-drives (e.g., Serial AT Attachment drives) or one or several NL-SATA drives.

In some embodiments, the one or several hardware and/or software components of the database server 104 can be arranged into one or several storage area networks (SAN), which one or several storage area networks can be one or several dedicated networks that provide access to data storage, and particularly that provides access to consolidated, block level data storage. A SAN typically has its own network of storage devices that are generally not accessible through the local area network (LAN) by other devices. The SAN allows access to these devices in a manner such that these devices appear to be locally attached to the user device.

Data stores 104 may comprise stored data relevant to the functions of the content distribution network 100. Illustrative examples of data stores 104 that may be maintained in certain embodiments of the content distribution network 100 are described below in reference to FIG. 3. In some embodiments, multiple data stores may reside on a single server 104, either using the same storage components of server 104 or using different physical storage components to assure data security and integrity between data stores. In other embodiments, each data store may have a separate dedicated data store server 104.

Content distribution network 100 also may include one or more user devices 106 and/or supervisor devices 110. User devices 106 and supervisor devices 110 may display content received via the content distribution network 100, and may support various types of user interactions with the content. User devices 106 and supervisor devices 110 may include mobile devices such as smartphones, tablet computers, personal digital assistants, and wearable computing devices. Such mobile devices may run a variety of mobile operating systems and may be enabled for Internet, e-mail, short message service (SMS), Bluetooth®, mobile radio-frequency identification (M-RFID), and/or other communication protocols. Other user devices 106 and supervisor devices 110 may be general purpose personal computers or special-purpose computing devices including, by way of example, personal computers, laptop computers, workstation computers, projection devices, and interactive room display systems. Additionally, user devices 106 and supervisor devices 110 may be any other electronic devices, such as a thin-client computers, an Internet-enabled gaming systems, business or home appliances, and/or a personal messaging devices, capable of communicating over network(s) 120.

In different contexts of content distribution networks 100, user devices 106 and supervisor devices 110 may correspond to different types of specialized devices, for example, student devices and teacher devices in an educational network, employee devices and presentation devices in a company network, different gaming devices in a gaming network, etc. In some embodiments, user devices 106 and supervisor devices 110 may operate in the same physical location 107, such as a classroom or conference room. In such cases, the devices may contain components that support direct communications with other nearby devices, such as wireless transceivers and wireless communications interfaces, Ethernet sockets or other Local Area Network (LAN) interfaces, etc. In other implementations, the user devices 106 and supervisor devices 110 need not be used at the same location 107, but may be used in remote geographic locations in which each user device 106 and supervisor device 110 may use security features and/or specialized hardware (e.g., hardware-accelerated SSL and HTTPS, WS-Security, firewalls, etc.) to communicate with the content management server 102 and/or other remotely located user devices 106. Additionally, different user devices 106 and supervisor devices 110 may be assigned different designated roles, such as presenter devices, teacher devices, administrator devices, or the like, and in such cases the different devices may be provided with additional hardware and/or software components to provide content and support user capabilities not available to the other devices.

The content distribution network 100 also may include a privacy server 108 that maintains private user information at the privacy server 108 while using applications or services hosted on other servers. For example, the privacy server 108 may be used to maintain private data of a user within one jurisdiction even though the user is accessing an application hosted on a server (e.g., the content management server 102) located outside the jurisdiction. In such cases, the privacy server 108 may intercept communications between a user device 106 or supervisor device 110 and other devices that include private user information. The privacy server 108 may create a token or identifier that does not disclose the private information and may use the token or identifier when communicating with the other servers and systems, instead of using the user's private information.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the content management server 102 may be in communication with one or more additional servers, such as a content server 112, a user data server 114, and/or an administrator server 116. Each of these servers may include some or all of the same physical and logical components as the content management server(s) 102, and in some cases, the hardware and software components of these servers 112-116 may be incorporated into the content management server(s) 102, rather than being implemented as separate computer servers.

Content server 112 may include hardware and software components to generate, store, and maintain the content resources for distribution to user devices 106 and other devices in the network 100. For example, in content distribution networks 100 used for professional training and educational purposes, content server 112 may include data stores of training materials, presentations, plans, syllabi, reviews, evaluations, interactive programs and simulations, course models, course outlines, and various training interfaces that correspond to different materials and/or different types of user devices 106. In content distribution networks 100 used for media distribution, interactive gaming, and the like, a content server 112 may include media content files such as music, movies, television programming, games, and advertisements.

User data server 114 may include hardware and software components that store and process data for multiple users relating to each user's activities and usage of the content distribution network 100. For example, the content management server 102 may record and track each user's system usage, including their user device 106, content resources accessed, and interactions with other user devices 106. This data may be stored and processed by the user data server 114, to support user tracking and analysis features. For instance, in the professional training and educational contexts, the user data server 114 may store and analyze each user's training materials viewed, presentations attended, courses completed, interactions, evaluation results, and the like. The user data server 114 may also include a repository for user-generated material, such as evaluations and tests completed by users, and documents and assignments prepared by users. In the context of media distribution and interactive gaming, the user data server 114 may store and process resource access data for multiple users (e.g., content titles accessed, access times, data usage amounts, gaming histories, user devices and device types, etc.).

Administrator server 116 may include hardware and software components to initiate various administrative functions at the content management server 102 and other components within the content distribution network 100. For example, the administrator server 116 may monitor device status and performance for the various servers, data stores, and/or user devices 106 in the content distribution network 100. When necessary, the administrator server 116 may add or remove devices from the network 100, and perform device maintenance such as providing software updates to the devices in the network 100. Various administrative tools on the administrator server 116 may allow authorized users to set user access permissions to various content resources, monitor resource usage by users and devices 106, and perform analyses and generate reports on specific network users and/or devices (e.g., resource usage tracking reports, training evaluations, etc.).

The content distribution network 100 may include one or more communication networks 120. Although only a single network 120 is identified in FIG. 1, the content distribution network 100 may include any number of different communication networks between any of the computer servers and devices shown in FIG. 1 and/or other devices described herein. Communication networks 120 may enable communication between the various computing devices, servers, and other components of the content distribution network 100. As discussed below, various implementations of content distribution networks 100 may employ different types of networks 120, for example, computer networks, telecommunications networks, wireless networks, and/or any combination of these and/or other networks.

The content distribution network 100 may include one or several navigation systems or features including, for example, the Global Positioning System (“GPS”), GALILEO (e.g., Europe's global positioning system), or the like, or location systems or features including, for example, one or several transceivers that can determine location of the one or several components of the content distribution network 100 via, for example, triangulation. All of these are depicted as navigation system 122.

In some embodiments, navigation system 122 can include or several features that can communicate with one or several components of the content distribution network 100 including, for example, with one or several of the user devices 106 and/or with one or several of the supervisor devices 110. In some embodiments, this communication can include the transmission of a signal from the navigation system 122 which signal is received by one or several components of the content distribution network 100 and can be used to determine the location of the one or several components of the content distribution network 100.

With reference to FIG. 2, an illustrative distributed computing environment 200 is shown including a computer server 202, four client computing devices 206, and other components that may implement certain embodiments and features described herein. In some embodiments, the server 202 may correspond to the content management server 102 discussed above in FIG. 1, and the client computing devices 206 may correspond to the user devices 106. However, the computing environment 200 illustrated in FIG. 2 may correspond to any other combination of devices and servers configured to implement a client-server model or other distributed computing architecture.

Client devices 206 may be configured to receive and execute client applications over one or more networks 220. Such client applications may be web browser based applications and/or standalone software applications, such as mobile device applications. Server 202 may be communicatively coupled with the client devices 206 via one or more communication networks 220. Client devices 206 may receive client applications from server 202 or from other application providers (e.g., public or private application stores). Server 202 may be configured to run one or more server software applications or services, for example, web-based or cloud-based services, to support content distribution and interaction with client devices 206. Users operating client devices 206 may in turn utilize one or more client applications (e.g., virtual client applications) to interact with server 202 to utilize the services provided by these components.

Various different subsystems and/or components 204 may be implemented on server 202. Users operating the client devices 206 may initiate one or more client applications to use services provided by these subsystems and components. The subsystems and components within the server 202 and client devices 206 may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or combinations thereof. Various different system configurations are possible in different distributed computing systems 200 and content distribution networks 100. The embodiment shown in FIG. 2 is thus one example of a distributed computing system and is not intended to be limiting.

Although exemplary computing environment 200 is shown with four client computing devices 206, any number of client computing devices may be supported. Other devices, such as specialized sensor devices, etc., may interact with client devices 206 and/or server 202.

As shown in FIG. 2, various security and integration components 208 may be used to send and manage communications between the server 202 and user devices 206 over one or more communication networks 220. The security and integration components 208 may include separate servers, such as web servers and/or authentication servers, and/or specialized networking components, such as firewalls, routers, gateways, load balancers, and the like. In some cases, the security and integration components 208 may correspond to a set of dedicated hardware and/or software operating at the same physical location and under the control of the same entities as server 202. For example, components 208 may include one or more dedicated web servers and network hardware in a datacenter or a cloud infrastructure. In other examples, the security and integration components 208 may correspond to separate hardware and software components which may be operated at a separate physical location and/or by a separate entity.

Security and integration components 208 may implement various security features for data transmission and storage, such as authenticating users and restricting access to unknown or unauthorized users. In various implementations, security and integration components 208 may provide, for example, a file-based integration scheme or a service-based integration scheme for transmitting data between the various devices in the content distribution network 100. Security and integration components 208 also may use secure data transmission protocols and/or encryption for data transfers, for example, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), and/or Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption.

In some embodiments, one or more web services may be implemented within the security and integration components 208 and/or elsewhere within the content distribution network 100. Such web services, including cross-domain and/or cross-platform web services, may be developed for enterprise use in accordance with various web service standards, such as RESTful web services (i.e., services based on the Representation State Transfer (REST) architectural style and constraints), and/or web services designed in accordance with the Web Service Interoperability (WS-I) guidelines. Some web services may use the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol to provide secure connections between the server 202 and user devices 206. SSL or TLS may use HTTP or HTTPS to provide authentication and confidentiality. In other examples, web services may be implemented using REST over HTTPS with the OAuth open standard for authentication, or using the WS-Security standard which provides for secure SOAP (e.g., Simple Object Access Protocol) messages using Extensible Markup Language (XML) encryption. In other examples, the security and integration components 208 may include specialized hardware for providing secure web services. For example, security and integration components 208 may include secure network appliances having built-in features such as hardware-accelerated SSL and HTTPS, WS-Security, and firewalls. Such specialized hardware may be installed and configured in front of any web servers, so that any external devices may communicate directly with the specialized hardware.

Communication network(s) 220 may be any type of network familiar to those skilled in the art that can support data communications using any of a variety of commercially-available protocols, including without limitation, TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internet protocol), SNA (systems network architecture), IPX (Internet packet exchange), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols, Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Secure Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTPS), Bluetooth®, Near Field Communication (NFC), and the like. Merely by way of example, network(s) 220 may be local area networks (LAN), such as one based on Ethernet, Token-Ring, and/or the like. Network(s) 220 also may be wide-area networks, such as the Internet. Networks 220 may include telecommunication networks such as a public switched telephone networks (PSTNs), or virtual networks such as an intranet or an extranet. Infrared and wireless networks (e.g., using the Institute of Electrical and Electronics (IEEE) 802.11 protocol suite or other wireless protocols) also may be included in networks 220.

Computing environment 200 also may include one or more data stores 210 and/or back-end servers 212. In certain examples, the data stores 210 may correspond to data store server(s) 104 discussed above in FIG. 1, and back-end servers 212 may correspond to the various back-end servers 112-116. Data stores 210 and servers 212 may reside in the same datacenter or may operate at a remote location from server 202. In some cases, one or more data stores 210 may reside on a non-transitory storage medium within the server 202. Other data stores 210 and back-end servers 212 may be remote from server 202 and configured to communicate with server 202 via one or more networks 220. In certain embodiments, data stores 210 and back-end servers 212 may reside in a storage-area network (SAN), or may use storage-as-a-service (STaaS) architectural model.

With reference to FIG. 3, an illustrative set of data stores and/or data store servers is shown, corresponding to the data store servers 104 of the content distribution network 100 discussed above in FIG. 1. One or more individual data stores 301-313 may reside in storage on a single computer server 104 (or a single server farm or cluster) under the control of a single entity, may be virtually implemented, or may reside on separate servers operated by different entities and/or at remote locations. In some embodiments, data stores 301-313 may be accessed by the content management server 102 and/or other devices and servers within the network 100 (e.g., user devices 106, supervisor devices 110, administrator servers 116, etc.). Access to one or more of the data stores 301-313 may be limited or denied based on the processes, user credentials, and/or devices attempting to interact with the data store.

The paragraphs below describe examples of specific data stores that may be implemented within some embodiments of a content distribution network 100. It should be understood that the below descriptions of data stores 301-313, including their functionality and types of data stored therein, are illustrative and non-limiting. Data stores server architecture, design, and the execution of specific data stores 301-313 may depend on the context, size, and functional requirements of a content distribution network 100. For example, in content distribution systems 100 used for professional training and educational purposes, separate databases or file-based storage systems may be implemented in data store server(s) 104 to store trainee and/or student data, trainer and/or professor data, training module data and content descriptions, training results, evaluation data, and the like. In contrast, in content distribution systems 100 used for media distribution from content providers to subscribers, separate data stores may be implemented in data stores server(s) 104 to store listings of available content titles and descriptions, content title usage statistics, subscriber profiles, account data, payment data, network usage statistics, etc.

A user profile data store 301, also referred to herein as a user profile database 301, may include information relating to the end users within the content distribution network 100. This information may include user characteristics such as the user names, access credentials (e.g., logins and passwords), user preferences, and information relating to any previous user interactions within the content distribution network 100 (e.g., requested content, posted content, content modules completed, training scores or evaluations, other associated users, etc.). In some embodiments, this information can relate to one or several individual end users such as, for example, one or several students, teachers, administrators, or the like, and in some embodiments, this information can relate to one or several institutional end users such as, for example, one or several schools, groups of schools such as one or several school districts, one or several colleges, one or several universities, one or several training providers, or the like. In some embodiments, this information can identify one or several user memberships in one or several groups such as, for example, a student's membership in a university, school, program, grade, course, class, or the like.

The user profile database 301 can include information relating to a user's status, location, or the like. This information can identify, for example, a device a user is using, the location of that device, or the like. In some embodiments, this information can be generated based on any location detection technology including, for example, a navigation system 122, or the like.

Information relating to the user's status can identify, for example, logged-in status information that can indicate whether the user is presently logged-in to the content distribution network 100 and/or whether the log-in is active. In some embodiments, the information relating to the user's status can identify whether the user is currently accessing content and/or participating in an activity from the content distribution network 100.

In some embodiments, information relating to the user's status can identify, for example, one or several attributes of the user's interaction with the content distribution network 100, and/or content distributed by the content distribution network 100. This can include data identifying the user's interactions with the content distribution network 100, the content consumed by the user through the content distribution network 100, or the like. In some embodiments, this can include data identifying the type of information accessed through the content distribution network 100 and/or the type of activity performed by the user via the content distribution network 100, the lapsed time since the last time the user accessed content and/or participated in an activity from the content distribution network 100, or the like. In some embodiments, this information can relate to a content program comprising an aggregate of data, content, and/or activities, and can identify, for example, progress through the content program, or through the aggregate of data, content, and/or activities forming the content program. In some embodiments, this information can track, for example, the amount of time since participation in and/or completion of one or several types of activities, the amount of time since communication with one or several supervisors and/or supervisor devices 110, or the like.

In some embodiments in which the one or several end users are individuals, and specifically are students, the user profile database 301 can further include information relating to these students' academic and/or educational history. This information can identify one or several courses of study that the student has initiated, completed, and/or partially completed, as well as grades received in those courses of study. In some embodiments, the student's academic and/or educational history can further include information identifying student performance on one or several tests, quizzes, and/or assignments. In some embodiments, this information can be stored in a tier of memory that is not the fastest memory in the content delivery network 100. In some embodiments, this can comprise response information such as, for example, information identifying one or several questions or pieces of content and responses provided to the same. In some embodiments, this response information can be formed into one or several matrices “D” containing information for n users responding top items, these one or several matrices D are also referred to herein as the matrix D, the D matrix, the user matrix, and/or the response matrix. Thus, the matrix D can have n×p dimensions, and in some embodiments, the matrix D can identify whether user responses to items were correct or incorrect. In some embodiments, for example, the matrix D can include an entry “1” for an item when a user response to that item is correct and can otherwise include and entry “0”.

The user profile database 301 can include information relating to one or several student learning preferences. In some embodiments, for example, the user, also referred to herein as the student or the student-user, may have one or several preferred learning styles, one or several most effective learning styles, and/or the like. In some embodiments, the user's learning style can be any learning style describing how the user best learns or how the user prefers to learn. In one embodiment, these learning styles can include, for example, identification of the user as an auditory learner, as a visual learner, and/or as a tactile learner. In some embodiments, the data identifying one or several user learning styles can include data identifying a learning style based on the user's educational history such as, for example, identifying a user as an auditory learner when the user has received significantly higher grades and/or scores on assignments and/or in courses favorable to auditory learners. In some embodiments, this information can be stored in a tier of memory that is not the fastest memory in the content delivery network 100.

In some embodiments, the user profile data store 301 can further include information identifying one or several user skill levels. In some embodiments, these one or several user skill levels can identify a skill level determined based on past performance by the user interacting with the content delivery network 100, and in some embodiments, these one or several user skill levels can identify a predicted skill level determined based on past performance by the user interacting with the content delivery network 100 and one or several predictive models.

The user profile database 301 can further include information relating to one or several teachers and/or instructors who are responsible for organizing, presenting, and/or managing the presentation of information to the user. In some embodiments, user profile database 301 can include information identifying courses and/or subjects that have been taught by the teacher, data identifying courses and/or subjects currently taught by the teacher, and/or data identifying courses and/or subjects that will be taught by the teacher. In some embodiments, this can include information relating to one or several teaching styles of one or several teachers. In some embodiments, the user profile database 301 can further include information indicating past evaluations and/or evaluation reports received by the teacher. In some embodiments, the user profile database 301 can further include information relating to improvement suggestions received by the teacher, training received by the teacher, continuing education received by the teacher, and/or the like. In some embodiments, this information can be stored in a tier of memory that is not the fastest memory in the content delivery network 100.

An accounts data store 302, also referred to herein as an accounts database 302, may generate and store account data for different users in various roles within the content distribution network 100. For example, accounts may be created in an accounts data store 302 for individual end users, supervisors, administrator users, and entities such as companies or educational institutions. Account data may include account types, current account status, account characteristics, and any parameters, limits, restrictions associated with the accounts.

A content library data store 303, also referred to herein as a content library database 303, may include information describing the individual content items (or content resources or data packets) available via the content distribution network 100. These data packets can include, for example, one or several assessment data packets and/or one or several content data packets. In some embodiments, an assessment data packet can comprise one or several questions for presenting to one or several users, in some embodiments, these assessment data packets can be further associated with data for use in evaluating responses received to the assessment data packets, which data can be used to determine whether a received response is correct, and/or the degree to which the received response is correct. The content data packets can comprise content for presenting to one or several users, which content data packets do not include assessment data packets. In some embodiments, these data packets in the content library database 303 can be linked to from an object network, or specifically to form a Bayes Net content network or learning graph. In some embodiments, these data packets can be linked in the object network according to one or several prerequisite relationships that can, for example, identify the relative hierarchy and/or difficulty of the data objects. In some embodiments, this hierarchy of data objects can be generated by the content distribution network 100 according to user experience with the object network, and in some embodiments, this hierarchy of data objects can be generated based on one or several existing and/or external hierarchies such as, for example, a syllabus, a table of contents, or the like. In some embodiments, for example, the object network can correspond to a syllabus such that content for the syllabus is embodied in the object network.

In some embodiments, data packets can be associated with a hierarchy, which hierarchy can, for example, correspond to a pre-existing structure of data, such as, for example, table of contents. In some embodiments, for example, the hierarchy can comprise a plurality of positions, which physicians can correspond to location a hierarchy. In some embodiments, for example, one position can be the lowest location, the hierarchy, another position can be the highest location in the hierarchy, and other positions can have intermediate locations within a hierarchy. In some embodiments, some or all of the data packets can be associated with positions within the hierarchy. In some embodiments, for example, each of the content data packets can be associated with a position within the hierarchy, and/or each of the assessment data packets can be associated with a position in the hierarchy. In some embodiments, assessment data packet are associated with a position in the hierarchy such that a correct response to the assessment data packets indicates mastery of that position in the hierarchy.

In some embodiments the content library database can comprise structure sub-database. The structure sub-database can identify a hierarchy that can, for example, be generated based on one or several existing and/or external hierarchies such as, for example, a syllabus, a table of contents, or the like. In some embodiments, some or all of the data packets within the content library can be each linked with a portion and/or location in the hierarchy. This link can correspond with the portion of the hierarchy with which the data packet is associated. In one embodiment, for example, in which the data packet is a question, the data packet can be linked with a portion of the hierarchy, which hierarchy can correspond to a table of contents, with which the question is associated. Thus, in some embodiments, the data packet corresponding with the question can be linked with the portion of the table of contents identifying content associated with the question.

In some embodiments, the content library data store 303 can comprise a syllabus, a schedule, or the like. In some embodiments, the syllabus or schedule can identify one or several tasks and/or events relevant to the user. In some embodiments, for example, when the user is a member of a group such as, a section or a class, these tasks and/or events relevant to the user can identify one or several assignments, quizzes, exams, or the like.

In some embodiments, the library data store 303 may include metadata, properties, and other characteristics associated with the content resources stored in the content server 112. Such data may identify one or more aspects or content attributes of the associated content resources, for example, subject matter, access level, or skill level of the content resources, license attributes of the content resources (e.g., any limitations and/or restrictions on the licensable use and/or distribution of the content resource), price attributes of the content resources (e.g., a price and/or price structure for determining a payment amount for use or distribution of the content resource), rating attributes for the content resources (e.g., data indicating the evaluation or effectiveness of the content resource), and the like. In some embodiments, the library data store 303 may be configured to allow updating of content metadata or properties, and to allow the addition and/or removal of information relating to the content resources. For example, content relationships may be implemented as graph structures, which may be stored in the library data store 303 or in an additional store for use by selection algorithms along with the other metadata.

In some embodiments, the content library data store 303 can contain information used in evaluating responses received from users. In some embodiments, for example, a user can receive content from the content distribution network 100 and can, subsequent to receiving that content, provide a response to the received content. In some embodiments, for example, the received content can comprise one or several questions, prompts, or the like, and the response to the received content can comprise an answer to those one or several questions, prompts, or the like. In some embodiments, information, referred to herein as “comparative data,” from the content library data store 303 can be used to determine whether the responses are the correct and/or desired responses.

In some embodiments, the content library database 303 and/or the user profile database 301 can comprise an aggregation network also referred to herein as a content network or content aggregation network. The aggregation network can comprise a plurality of content aggregations that can be linked together by, for example: creation by common user; relation to a common subject, topic, skill, or the like; creation from a common set of source material such as source data packets; or the like. In some embodiments, the content aggregation can comprise a grouping of content comprising the presentation portion that can be provided to the user in the form of for example, a flash card and an extraction portion that can comprise the desired response to the presentation portion such as for example, an answer to a flash card. In some embodiments, one or several content aggregations can be generated by the content distribution network 100 and can be related to one or several data packets they can be, for example, organized in object network. In some embodiments, the one or several content aggregations can be each created from content stored in one or several of the data packets.

In some embodiments, the content aggregations located in the content library database 303 and/or the user profile database 301 can be associated with a user-creator of those content aggregations. In some embodiments, access to content aggregations can vary based on, for example, whether a user created the content aggregations. In some embodiments, the content library database 303 and/or the user profile database 301 can comprise a database of content aggregations associated with a specific user, and in some embodiments, the content library database 303 and/or the user profile database 301 can comprise a plurality of databases of content aggregations that are each associated with a specific user. In some embodiments, these databases of content aggregations can include content aggregations created by their specific user and in some embodiments, these databases of content aggregations can further include content aggregations selected for inclusion by their specific user and/or a supervisor of that specific user. In some embodiments, these content aggregations can be arranged and/or linked in a hierarchical relationship similar to the data packets in the object network and/or linked to the object network in the object network or the tasks or skills associated with the data packets in the object network or the syllabus or schedule.

In some embodiments, the content aggregation network, and the content aggregations forming the content aggregation network, can be organized according to the object network and/or the hierarchical relationships embodied in the object network. In some embodiments, the content aggregation network, and/or the content aggregations forming the content aggregation network, can be organized according to one or several tasks identified in the syllabus, schedule or the like.

A pricing data store 304 may include pricing information and/or pricing structures for determining payment amounts for providing access to the content distribution network 100 and/or the individual content resources within the network 100. In some cases, pricing may be determined based on a user's access to the content distribution network 100, for example, a time-based subscription fee or pricing based on network usage. In other cases, pricing may be tied to specific content resources. Certain content resources may have associated pricing information, whereas other pricing determinations may be based on the resources accessed, the profiles and/or accounts of the user, and the desired level of access (e.g., duration of access, network speed, etc.). Additionally, the pricing data store 304 may include information relating to compilation pricing for groups of content resources, such as group prices and/or price structures for groupings of resources.

A license data store 305 may include information relating to licenses and/or licensing of the content resources within the content distribution network 100. For example, the license data store 305 may identify licenses and licensing terms for individual content resources and/or compilations of content resources in the content server 112, the rights holders for the content resources, and/or common or large-scale right holder information such as contact information for rights holders of content not included in the content server 112.

A content access data store 306 may include access rights and security information for the content distribution network 100 and specific content resources. For example, the content access data store 306 may include login information (e.g., user identifiers, logins, passwords, etc.) that can be verified during user login attempts to the network 100. The content access data store 306 also may be used to store assigned user roles and/or user levels of access. For example, a user's access level may correspond to the sets of content resources and/or the client or server applications that the user is permitted to access. Certain users may be permitted or denied access to certain applications and resources based on their subscription level, training program, course/grade level, etc. Certain users may have supervisory access over one or more end users, allowing the supervisor to access all or portions of the end user's content, activities, evaluations, etc. Additionally, certain users may have administrative access over some users and/or some applications in the content management network 100, allowing such users to add and remove user accounts, modify user access permissions, perform maintenance updates on software and servers, etc.

A source data store 307 may include information relating to the source of the content resources available via the content distribution network. For example, a source data store 307 may identify the authors and originating devices of content resources, previous pieces of data and/or groups of data originating from the same authors or originating devices and the like.

An evaluation data store 308 may include information used to direct the evaluation of users and content resources in the content management network 100. In some embodiments, the evaluation data store 308 may contain, for example, the analysis criteria and the analysis guidelines for evaluating users (e.g., trainees/students, gaming users, media content consumers, etc.) and/or for evaluating the content resources in the network 100. The evaluation data store 308 also may include information relating to evaluation processing tasks, for example, the identification of users and user devices 106 that have received certain content resources or accessed certain applications, the status of evaluations or evaluation histories for content resources, users, or applications, and the like. Evaluation criteria may be stored in the evaluation data store 308 including data and/or instructions in the form of one or several electronic rubrics or scoring guides for use in the evaluation of the content, users, or applications. The evaluation data store 308 also may include past evaluations and/or evaluation analyses for users, content, and applications, including relative rankings, characterizations, explanations, and the like.

A model data store 309, also referred to herein as a model database 309 can store information relating to one or several predictive models. In some embodiments, these can include one or several evidence models, risk models, skill models, or the like. In some embodiments, an evidence model can be a mathematically-based statistical model. The evidence model can be based on, for example, Item Response Theory (IRT), Bayesian Network (Bayes net), Performance Factor Analysis (PFA), or the like. The evidence model can, in some embodiments, be customizable to a user and/or to one or several content items. Specifically, one or several inputs relating to the user and/or to one or several content items can be inserted into the evidence model. These inputs can include, for example, one or several measures of user skill level, one or several measures of content item difficulty and/or skill level, or the like. The customized evidence model can then be used to predict the likelihood of the user providing desired or undesired responses to one or several of the content items.

In some embodiments, the risk models can include one or several models that can be used to calculate one or several model function values. In some embodiments, these one or several model function values can be used to calculate a risk probability, which risk probability can characterize the risk of a student-user failing to achieve a desired outcome such as, for example, failing to correctly respond to one or several data packets, failure to achieve a desired level of completion of a program, for example in a pre-defined time period, failure to achieve a desired learning outcome, or the like. In some embodiments, the risk probability can identify the risk of the student-user failing to complete 60% of the program.

In some embodiments, these models can include a plurality of model functions including, for example, a first model function, a second model function, a third model function, and a fourth model function. In some embodiments, some or all of the model functions can be associated with a portion of the program such as, for example a completion stage and/or completion status of the program. In one embodiment, for example, the first model function can be associated with a first completion status, the second model function can be associated with a second completion status, the third model function can be associated with a third completion status, and the fourth model function can be associated with a fourth completion status. In some embodiments, these completion statuses can be selected such that some or all of these completion statuses are less than the desired level of completion of the program. Specifically, in some embodiments, these completion statuses can be selected to all be at less than 60% completion of the program, and more specifically, in some embodiments, the first completion status can be at 20% completion of the program, the second completion status can be at 30% completion of the program, the third completion status can be at 40% completion of the program, and the fourth completion status can be at 50% completion of the program. Similarly, any desired number of model functions can be associated with any desired number of completion statuses.

In some embodiments, a model function can be selected from the plurality of model functions based on a user's progress through a program. In some embodiments, the user's progress can be compared to one or several status trigger thresholds, each of which status trigger thresholds can be associated with one or more of the model functions. If one of the status triggers is triggered by the user's progress, the corresponding one or several model functions can be selected.

The model functions can comprise a variety of types of models and/or functions. In some embodiments, each of the model functions outputs a function value that can be used in calculating a risk probability. This function value can be calculated by performing one or several mathematical operations on one or several values indicative of one or several user attributes and/or user parameters, also referred to herein as program status parameters. In some embodiments, each of the model functions can use the same program status parameters, and in some embodiments, the model functions can use different program status parameters. In some embodiments, the model functions use different program status parameters when at least one of the model functions uses at least one program status parameter that is not used by others of the model functions.

In some embodiments, a skill model can comprise a statistical model identifying a predictive skill level of one or several users. In some embodiments, this model can identify a single skill level of a user and/or a range of possible skill levels of a user. In some embodiments, this statistical model can identify a skill level of a student-user and an error value or error range associated with that skill level. In some embodiments, the error value can be associated with a confidence interval determined based on a confidence level. Thus, in some embodiments, as the number of user interactions with the content distribution network increases, the confidence level can increase and the error value can decrease such that the range identified by the error value about the predicted skill level is smaller.

In some embodiments, the model database 309, can further include data characterizing one or several attributes of one or several of the model stored in the model database. In some embodiments, this data can characterize aspects of the training of one or several of the model stored in the model database including, for example, identification of one or several sets of training data, identification of attributes of one or several sets of training data, such as, for example, the size of the sets of training data, or the like. In some embodiments, this data can further include data characterizing the confidence of one or several models stored in the model database 309.

A threshold database 310 can store one or several threshold values. These one or several threshold values can delineate between states or conditions. In one exemplary embodiment, for example, a threshold value can delineate between an acceptable user performance and an unacceptable user performance, between content appropriate for a user and content that is inappropriate for a user, between risk levels, or the like.

A prioritization database 311 can include data relating to one or several tasks and the prioritization of those one or several tasks with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the prioritization database 311 can be unique to a specific user, and in some embodiments, the prioritization database 311 can be applicable to a plurality of users. In some embodiments in which the prioritization database 311 is unique to a specific user, the prioritization database 311 can be a sub-database of the user profile database 301. In some embodiments, the prioritization database 311 can include information identifying a plurality of tasks and a relative prioritization amongst that plurality of tasks. In some embodiments, this prioritization can be static and in some embodiments, this prioritization can be dynamic in that the prioritization can change based on updates, for example, one or several of the tasks, the user profile database 301, or the like. In some embodiments, the prioritization database 311 can include information relating to tasks associated with a single course, group, class, or the like, and in some embodiments, the prioritization database 311 can include information relating to tasks associated with a plurality of courses, groups, classes, or the like.

A task can define an objective and/or outcome and can be associated with one or several data packets that can, for example, contribute to user attainment of the objective and/or outcome. In some embodiments, some or all of the data packets contained in the content library database 303 can be linked with one or several tasks stored in the prioritization database 311 such that a single task can be linked and/or associated with one or several data packets.

The prioritization database 311 can further include information relevant to the prioritization of one or several tasks and/or the prioritization database 311 can include information that can be used in determining the prioritization of one or several tasks. In some embodiments, this can include weight data which can identify a relative and/or absolute weight of a task. In some embodiments, for example, the weight data can identify the degree to which a task contributes to an outcome such as, for example, a score or a grade. In some embodiments, this weight data can specify the portion and/or percent of a grade of a class, section, course, or study that results from, and/or that is associated with the task.

The prioritization database 311 can further include information relevant to the composition of the task. In some embodiments, for example, this information, also referred to herein as a composition value, can identify one or several sub-tasks and/or content categories forming the tasks, as well as a contribution of each of those sub-tasks and/or content categories to the task. In some embodiments, the application of the weight data to the composition value can result in the identification of a contribution value for the task and/or for the one or several sub-tasks and/or content categories forming the task. This contribution value can identify the contribution of one, some, or all of the sub-tasks and/or content categories to the outcome such as, for example, the score or the grade.

The calendar data source 312, also referred to herein as the calendar database 312 can include timing information relevant to the tasks contained in the prioritization database 311. In some embodiments, this timing information can identify one or several dates by which the tasks should be completed, one or several event dates associated with the task such as, for example, one or several due dates, test dates, or the like, holiday information, or the like. In some embodiments, the calendar database 312 can further include any information provided to the user relating to other goals, commitments, or the like.

In addition to the illustrative data stores described above, data store server(s) 104 (e.g., database servers, file-based storage servers, etc.) may include one or more external data aggregators 313. External data aggregators 313 may include third-party data sources accessible to the content management network 100, but not maintained by the content management network 100. External data aggregators 313 may include any electronic information source relating to the users, content resources, or applications of the content distribution network 100. For example, external data aggregators 313 may be third-party data stores containing demographic data, education related data, consumer sales data, health related data, and the like. Illustrative external data aggregators 313 may include, for example, social networking web servers, public records data stores, learning management systems, educational institution servers, business servers, consumer sales data stores, medical record data stores, etc. Data retrieved from various external data aggregators 313 may be used to verify and update user account information, suggest user content, and perform user and content evaluations.

With reference now to FIG. 4, a block diagram is shown illustrating an embodiment of one or more content management servers 102 within a content distribution network 100. In such an embodiment, content management server 102 performs internal data gathering and processing of streamed content along with external data gathering and processing. Other embodiments could have either all external or all internal data gathering. This embodiment allows reporting timely information that might be of interest to the reporting party or other parties. In this embodiment, the content management server 102 can monitor gathered information from several sources to allow it to make timely business and/or processing decisions based upon that information. For example, reports of user actions and/or responses, as well as the status and/or results of one or several processing tasks could be gathered and reported to the content management server 102 from a number of sources.

Internally, the content management server 102 gathers information from one or more internal components 402-408. The internal components 402-408 gather and/or process information relating to such things as: content provided to users; content consumed by users; responses provided by users; user skill levels; content difficulty levels; next content for providing to users; etc. The internal components 402-408 can report the gathered and/or generated information in real-time, near real-time or along another time line. To account for any delay in reporting information, a time stamp or staleness indicator can inform others of how timely the information was sampled. The content management server 102 can opt to allow third parties to use internally or externally gathered information that is aggregated within the server 102 by subscription to the content distribution network 100.

A command and control (CC) interface 338 configures the gathered input information to an output of data streams, also referred to herein as content streams. APIs for accepting gathered information and providing data streams are provided to third parties external to the server 102 who want to subscribe to data streams. The server 102 or a third party can design as yet undefined APIs using the CC interface 338. The server 102 can also define authorization and authentication parameters using the CC interface 338 such as authentication, authorization, login, and/or data encryption. CC information is passed to the internal components 402-408 and/or other components of the content distribution network 100 through a channel separate from the gathered information or data stream in this embodiment, but other embodiments could embed CC information in these communication channels. The CC information allows throttling information reporting frequency, specifying formats for information and data streams, deactivation of one or several internal components 402-408 and/or other components of the content distribution network 100, updating authentication and authorization, etc.

The various data streams that are available can be researched and explored through the CC interface 338. Those data stream selections for a particular subscriber, which can be one or several of the internal components 402-408 and/or other components of the content distribution network 100, are stored in the queue subscription information database 322. The server 102 and/or the CC interface 338 then routes selected data streams to processing subscribers that have selected delivery of a given data stream. Additionally, the server 102 also supports historical queries of the various data streams that are stored in an historical data store 334 as gathered by an archive data agent 336. Through the CC interface 338 various data streams can be selected for archiving into the historical data store 334.

Components of the content distribution network 100 outside of the server 102 can also gather information that is reported to the server 102 in real-time, near real-time, or along another time line. There is a defined API between those components and the server 102. Each type of information or variable collected by server 102 falls within a defined API or multiple APIs. In some cases, the CC interface 338 is used to define additional variables to modify an API that might be of use to processing subscribers. The additional variables can be passed to all processing subscribes or just a subset. For example, a component of the content distribution network 100 outside of the server 102 may report a user response, but define an identifier of that user as a private variable that would not be passed to processing subscribers lacking access to that user and/or authorization to receive that user data. Processing subscribers having access to that user and/or authorization to receive that user data would receive the subscriber identifier along with the response reported to that component. Encryption and/or unique addressing of data streams or sub-streams can be used to hide the private variables within the messaging queues.

The user devices 106 and/or supervisor devices 110 communicate with the server 102 through security and/or integration hardware 410. The communication with security and/or integration hardware 410 can be encrypted or not. For example, a socket using a TCP connection could be used. In addition to TCP, other transport layer protocols like Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) could be used in some embodiments to intake the gathered information. A protocol such as SSL could be used to protect the information over the TCP connection. Authentication and authorization can be performed to any user devices 106 and/or supervisor device interfacing to the server 102. The security and/or integration hardware 410 receives the information from one or several of the user devices 106 and/or the supervisor devices 110 by providing the API and any encryption, authorization, and/or authentication. In some cases, the security and/or integration hardware 410 reformats or rearranges this received information

The messaging bus 412, also referred to herein as a messaging queue or a messaging channel, can receive information from the internal components of the server 102 and/or components of the content distribution network 100 outside of the server 102 and distribute the gathered information as a data stream to any processing subscribers that have requested the data stream from the messaging queue 412. As indicated in FIG. 4, processing subscribers are indicated by a connector to the messaging bus 412, the connector having an arrow head pointing away from the messaging bus 412. In some examples, only data streams within the messaging queue 412 that a particular processing subscriber has subscribed to may be read by that processing subscriber if received at all. Gathered information sent to the messaging queue 412 is processed and returned in a data stream in a fraction of a second by the messaging queue 412. Various multicasting and routing techniques can be used to distribute a data stream from the messaging queue 412 that a number of processing subscribers have requested. Protocols such as Multicast or multiple Unicast could be used to distributed streams within the messaging queue 412. Additionally, transport layer protocols like TCP, SCTP and UDP could be used in various embodiments.

Through the CC interface 338, an external or internal processing subscriber can be assigned one or more data streams within the messaging queue 412. A data stream is a particular type of messages in a particular category. For example, a data stream can comprise all of the data reported to the messaging bus 412 by a designated set of components. One or more processing subscribers could subscribe and receive the data stream to process the information and make a decision and/or feed the output from the processing as gathered information fed back into the messaging queue 412. Through the CC interface 338 a developer can search the available data streams or specify a new data stream and its API. The new data stream might be determined by processing a number of existing data streams with a processing subscriber.

The CDN 110 has internal processing subscribers 402-408 that process assigned data streams to perform functions within the server 102. Internal processing subscribers 402-408 could perform functions such as providing content to a user, receiving a response from a user, determining the correctness of the received response, updating one or several models based on the correctness of the response, recommending new content for providing to one or several users, or the like. The internal processing subscribers 402-408 can decide filtering and weighting of records from the data stream. To the extent that decisions are made based upon analysis of the data stream, each data record is time stamped to reflect when the information was gathered such that additional credibility could be given to more recent results, for example. Other embodiments may filter out records in the data stream that are from an unreliable source or stale. For example, a particular contributor of information may prove to have less than optimal gathered information and that could be weighted very low or removed altogether.

Internal processing subscribers 402-408 may additionally process one or more data streams to provide different information to feed back into the messaging queue 412 to be part of a different data stream. For example, hundreds of user devices 106 could provide responses that are put into a data stream on the messaging queue 412. An internal processing subscriber 402-408 could receive the data stream and process it to determine the difficulty of one or several data packets provided to one or several users and supply this information back onto the messaging queue 412 for possible use by other internal and external processing subscribers.

As mentioned above, the CC interface 338 allows the CDN 110 to query historical messaging queue 412 information. An archive data agent 336 listens to the messaging queue 412 to store data streams in a historical database 334. The historical database 334 may store data streams for varying amounts of time and may not store all data streams. Different data streams may be stored for different amounts of time.

With regards to the components 402-408, the content management server(s) 102 may include various server hardware and software components that manage the content resources within the content distribution network 100 and provide interactive and adaptive content to users on various user devices 106. For example, content management server(s) 102 may provide instructions to and receive information from the other devices within the content distribution network 100, in order to manage and transmit content resources, user data, and server or client applications executing within the network 100.

A content management server 102 may include a packet selection system 402. The packet selection system 402 may be implemented using dedicated hardware within the content distribution network 100 (e.g., a packet selection server 402), or using designated hardware and software resources within a shared content management server 102. In some embodiments, the packet selection system 402 may adjust the selection and adaptive capabilities of content resources to match the needs and desires of the users receiving the content. For example, the packet selection system 402 may query various data stores and servers 104 to retrieve user information, such as user preferences and characteristics (e.g., from a user profile data store 301), user access restrictions to content recourses (e.g., from a content access data store 306), previous user results and content evaluations (e.g., from an evaluation data store 308), and the like. Based on the retrieved information from data stores 104 and other data sources, the packet selection system 402 may modify content resources for individual users.

In some embodiments, the packet selection system 402 can include a recommendation engine, also referred to herein as an adaptive recommendation engine. In some embodiments, the recommendation engine can select one or several pieces of content, also referred to herein as data packets, for providing to a user. These data packets can be selected based on, for example, the information retrieved from the database server 104 including, for example, the user profile database 301, the content library database 303, the model database 309, or the like. In some embodiments, these one or several data packets can be adaptively selected and/or selected according to one or several selection rules. In one embodiment, for example, the recommendation engine can retrieve information from the user profile database 301 identifying, for example, a skill level of the user. The recommendation engine can further retrieve information from the content library database 303 identifying, for example, potential data packets for providing to the user and the difficulty of those data packets and/or the skill level associated with those data packets.

The recommendation engine can identify one or several potential data packets for providing and/or one or several data packets for providing to the user based on, for example, one or several rules, models, predictions, or the like. The recommendation engine can use the skill level of the user to generate a prediction of the likelihood of one or several users providing a desired response to some or all of the potential data packets. In some embodiments, the recommendation engine can pair one or several data packets with selection criteria that may be used to determine which packet should be delivered to a user based on one or several received responses from that student-user. In some embodiments, one or several data packets can be eliminated from the pool of potential data packets if the prediction indicates either too high a likelihood of a desired response or too low a likelihood of a desired response. In some embodiments, the recommendation engine can then apply one or several selection criteria to the remaining potential data packets to select a data packet for providing to the user. These one or several selection criteria can be based on, for example, criteria relating to a desired estimated time for receipt of response to the data packet, one or several content parameters, one or several assignment parameters, or the like.

A content management server 102 also may include a summary model system 404. The summary model system 404 may be implemented using dedicated hardware within the content distribution network 100 (e.g., a summary model server 404), or using designated hardware and software resources within a shared content management server 102. In some embodiments, the summary model system 404 may monitor the progress of users through various types of content resources and groups, such as media compilations, courses, or curriculums in training or educational contexts, interactive gaming environments, and the like. For example, the summary model system 404 may query one or more databases and/or data store servers 104 to retrieve user data such as associated content compilations or programs, content completion status, user goals, results, and the like.

A content management server 102 also may include a response system 406, which can include, in some embodiments, a response processor. The response system 406 may be implemented using dedicated hardware within the content distribution network 100 (e.g., a response server 406), or using designated hardware and software resources within a shared content management server 102. The response system 406 may be configured to receive and analyze information from user devices 106. For example, various ratings of content resources submitted by users may be compiled and analyzed, and then stored in a data store (e.g., a content library data store 303 and/or evaluation data store 308) associated with the content. In some embodiments, the response server 406 may analyze the information to determine the effectiveness or appropriateness of content resources with, for example, a subject matter, an age group, a skill level, or the like. In some embodiments, the response system 406 may provide updates to the packet selection system 402 or the summary model system 404, with the attributes of one or more content resources or groups of resources within the network 100. The response system 406 also may receive and analyze user evaluation data from user devices 106, supervisor devices 110, and administrator servers 116, etc. For instance, response system 406 may receive, aggregate, and analyze user evaluation data for different types of users (e.g., end users, supervisors, administrators, etc.) in different contexts (e.g., media consumer ratings, trainee or student comprehension levels, teacher effectiveness levels, gamer skill levels, etc.).

In some embodiments, the response system 406 can be further configured to receive one or several responses from the user and analyze these one or several responses. In some embodiments, for example, the response system 406 can be configured to translate the one or several responses into one or several observables. As used herein, an observable is a characterization of a received response. In some embodiments, the translation of the one or several response into one or several observables can include determining whether the one or several response are correct responses, also referred to herein as desired responses, or are incorrect responses, also referred to herein as undesired responses. In some embodiments, the translation of the one or several response into one or several observables can include characterizing the degree to which one or several response are desired responses and/or undesired responses. In some embodiments, one or several values can be generated by the response system 406 to reflect user performance in responding to the one or several data packets. In some embodiments, these one or several values can comprise one or several scores for one or several responses and/or data packets.

A content management server 102 also may include a presentation system 408. The presentation system 408 may be implemented using dedicated hardware within the content distribution network 100 (e.g., a presentation server 408), or using designated hardware and software resources within a shared content management server 102. The presentation system 408 can include a presentation engine that can be, for example, a software module running on the content delivery system.

The presentation system 408, also referred to herein as the presentation module or the presentation engine, may receive content resources from the packet selection system 402 and/or from the summary model system 404, and provide the resources to user devices 106. The presentation system 408 may determine the appropriate presentation format for the content resources based on the user characteristics and preferences, and/or the device capabilities of user devices 106. If needed, the presentation system 408 may convert the content resources to the appropriate presentation format and/or compress the content before transmission. In some embodiments, the presentation system 408 may also determine the appropriate transmission media and communication protocols for transmission of the content resources.

In some embodiments, the presentation system 408 may include specialized security and integration hardware 410, along with corresponding software components to implement the appropriate security features content transmission and storage, to provide the supported network and client access models, and to support the performance and scalability requirements of the network 100. The security and integration layer 410 may include some or all of the security and integration components 208 discussed above in FIG. 2, and may control the transmission of content resources and other data, as well as the receipt of requests and content interactions, to and from the user devices 106, supervisor devices 110, administrator servers 116, and other devices in the network 100.

With reference now to FIG. 5, a block diagram of an illustrative computer system is shown. The system 500 may correspond to any of the computing devices or servers of the content distribution network 100 described above, or any other computing devices described herein, and specifically can include, for example, one or several of the user devices 106, the supervisor device 110, and/or any of the servers 102, 104, 108, 112, 114, 116. In this example, computer system 500 includes processing units 504 that communicate with a number of peripheral subsystems via a bus subsystem 502. These peripheral subsystems include, for example, a storage subsystem 510, an I/O subsystem 526, and a communications subsystem 532.

Bus subsystem 502 provides a mechanism for letting the various components and subsystems of computer system 500 communicate with each other as intended. Although bus subsystem 502 is shown schematically as a single bus, alternative embodiments of the bus subsystem may utilize multiple buses. Bus subsystem 502 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. Such architectures may include, for example, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, which can be implemented as a Mezzanine bus manufactured to the IEEE P1386.1 standard.

Processing unit 504, which may be implemented as one or more integrated circuits (e.g., a conventional microprocessor or microcontroller), controls the operation of computer system 500. One or more processors, including single core and/or multicore processors, may be included in processing unit 504. As shown in the figure, processing unit 504 may be implemented as one or more independent processing units 506 and/or 508 with single or multicore processors and processor caches included in each processing unit. In other embodiments, processing unit 504 may also be implemented as a quad-core processing unit or larger multicore designs (e.g., hexa-core processors, octo-core processors, ten-core processors, or greater.

Processing unit 504 may execute a variety of software processes embodied in program code, and may maintain multiple concurrently executing programs or processes. At any given time, some or all of the program code to be executed can be resident in processor(s) 504 and/or in storage subsystem 510. In some embodiments, computer system 500 may include one or more specialized processors, such as digital signal processors (DSPs), outboard processors, graphics processors, application-specific processors, and/or the like.

I/O subsystem 526 may include device controllers 528 for one or more user interface input devices and/or user interface output devices 530. User interface input and output devices 530 may be integral with the computer system 500 (e.g., integrated audio/video systems, and/or touchscreen displays), or may be separate peripheral devices which are attachable/detachable from the computer system 500. The I/O subsystem 526 may provide one or several outputs to a user by converting one or several electrical signals to user perceptible and/or interpretable forin, and may receive one or several inputs from the user by generating one or several electrical signals based on one or several user-caused interactions with the I/O subsystem such as the depressing of a key or button, the moving of a mouse, the interaction with a touchscreen or trackpad, the interaction of a sound wave with a microphone, or the like.

Input devices 530 may include a keyboard, pointing devices such as a mouse or trackball, a touchpad or touch screen incorporated into a display, a scroll wheel, a click wheel, a dial, a button, a switch, a keypad, audio input devices with voice command recognition systems, microphones, and other types of input devices. Input devices 530 may also include three dimensional (3D) mice, joysticks or pointing sticks, gamepads and graphic tablets, and audio/visual devices such as speakers, digital cameras, digital camcorders, portable media players, webcams, image scanners, fingerprint scanners, barcode reader 3D scanners, 3D printers, laser rangefinders, and eye gaze tracking devices. Additional input devices 530 may include, for example, motion sensing and/or gesture recognition devices that enable users to control and interact with an input device through a natural user interface using gestures and spoken commands, eye gesture recognition devices that detect eye activity from users and transform the eye gestures as input into an input device, voice recognition sensing devices that enable users to interact with voice recognition systems through voice commands, medical imaging input devices, MIDI keyboards, digital musical instruments, and the like.

Output devices 530 may include one or more display subsystems, indicator lights, or non-visual displays such as audio output devices, etc. Display subsystems may include, for example, cathode ray tube (CRT) displays, flat-panel devices, such as those using a liquid crystal display (LCD) or plasma display, light-emitting diode (LED) displays, projection devices, touch screens, and the like. In general, use of the term “output device” is intended to include all possible types of devices and mechanisms for outputting information from computer system 500 to a user or other computer. For example, output devices 530 may include, without limitation, a variety of display devices that visually convey text, graphics, and audio/video information such as monitors, printers, speakers, headphones, automotive navigation systems, plotters, voice output devices, and modems.

Computer system 500 may comprise one or more storage subsystems 510, comprising hardware and software components used for storing data and program instructions, such as system memory 518 and computer-readable storage media 516. The system memory 518 and/or computer-readable storage media 516 may store program instructions that are loadable and executable on processing units 504, as well as data generated during the execution of these programs.

Depending on the configuration and type of computer system 500, system memory 518 may be stored in volatile memory (such as random access memory (RAM) 512) and/or in non-volatile storage drives 514 (such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, etc.). The RAM 512 may contain data and/or program modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presently being operated and executed by processing units 504. In some implementations, system memory 518 may include multiple different types of memory, such as static random access memory (SRAM) or dynamic random access memory (DRAM). In some implementations, a basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within computer system 500, such as during start-up, may typically be stored in the non-volatile storage drives 514. By way of example, and not limitation, system memory 518 may include application programs 520, such as client applications, Web browsers, mid-tier applications, server applications, etc., program data 522, and an operating system 524.

Storage subsystem 510 also may provide one or more tangible computer-readable storage media 516 for storing the basic programming and data constructs that provide the functionality of some embodiments. Software (programs, code modules, instructions) that when executed by a processor provide the functionality described herein may be stored in storage subsystem 510. These software modules or instructions may be executed by processing units 504. Storage subsystem 510 may also provide a repository for storing data used in accordance with the present invention.

Storage subsystem 510 may also include a computer-readable storage media reader that can further be connected to computer-readable storage media 516. Together and, optionally, in combination with system memory 518, computer-readable storage media 516 may comprehensively represent remote, local, fixed, and/or removable storage devices plus storage media for temporarily and/or more permanently containing, storing, transmitting, and retrieving computer-readable information.

Computer-readable storage media 516 containing program code, or portions of program code, may include any appropriate media known or used in the art, including storage media and communication media, such as, but not limited to, volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage and/or transmission of information. This can include tangible computer-readable storage media such as RAM, ROM, electronically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disk (DVD), or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or other tangible computer readable media. This can also include nontangible computer-readable media, such as data signals, data transmissions, or any other medium which can be used to transmit the desired information and which can be accessed by computer system 500.

By way of example, computer-readable storage media 516 may include a hard disk drive that reads from or writes to non-removable, nonvolatile magnetic media, a magnetic disk drive that reads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile magnetic disk, and an optical disk drive that reads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile optical disk such as a CD ROM, DVD, and Blu-Ray® disk, or other optical media. Computer-readable storage media 516 may include, but is not limited to, Zip® drives, flash memory cards, universal serial bus (USB) flash drives, secure digital (SD) cards, DVD disks, digital video tape, and the like. Computer-readable storage media 516 may also include, solid-state drives (SSD) based on non-volatile memory such as flash-memory based SSDs, enterprise flash drives, solid state ROM, and the like, SSDs based on volatile memory such as solid state RAM, dynamic RAM, static RAM, DRAM-based SSDs, magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) SSDs, and hybrid SSDs that use a combination of DRAM and flash memory based SSDs. The disk drives and their associated computer-readable media may provide non-volatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, and other data for computer system 500.

Communications subsystem 532 may provide a communication interface from computer system 500 and external computing devices via one or more communication networks, including local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs) (e.g., the Internet), and various wireless telecommunications networks. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the communications subsystem 532 may include, for example, one or more network interface controllers (NICs) 534, such as Ethernet cards, Asynchronous Transfer Mode NICs, Token Ring NICs, and the like, as well as one or more wireless communications interfaces 536, such as wireless network interface controllers (WNICs), wireless network adapters, and the like. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the communications subsystem 532 may include, for example, one or more location determining features 538 such as one or several navigation system features and/or receivers, and the like.

Additionally and/or alternatively, the communications subsystem 532 may include one or more modems (telephone, satellite, cable, ISDN), synchronous or asynchronous digital subscriber line (DSL) units, FireWire® interfaces, USB® interfaces, and the like. Communications subsystem 536 also may include radio frequency (RF) transceiver components for accessing wireless voice and/or data networks (e.g., using cellular telephone technology, advanced data network technology, such as 3G, 4G or EDGE (enhanced data rates for global evolution), WIFi (IEEE 802.11 family standards, or other mobile communication technologies, or any combination thereof), global positioning system (GPS) receiver components, and/or other components.

The various physical components of the communications subsystem 532 may be detachable components coupled to the computer system 500 via a computer network, a FireWire® bus, or the like, and/or may be physically integrated onto a motherboard of the computer system 500. Communications subsystem 532 also may be implemented in whole or in part by software.

In some embodiments, communications subsystem 532 may also receive input communication in the form of structured and/or unstructured data feeds, event streams, event updates, and the like, on behalf of one or more users who may use or access computer system 500. For example, communications subsystem 532 may be configured to receive data feeds in real-time from users of social networks and/or other communication services, web feeds such as Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds, and/or real-time updates from one or more third party information sources (e.g., external data source 313). Additionally, communications subsystem 532 may be configured to receive data in the form of continuous data streams, which may include event streams of real-time events and/or event updates (e.g., sensor data applications, financial tickers, network performance measuring tools, clickstream analysis tools, automobile traffic monitoring, etc.). Communications subsystem 532 may output such structured and/or unstructured data feeds, event streams, event updates, and the like to one or more data stores 104 that may be in communication with one or more streaming data source computers coupled to computer system 500.

Due to the ever-changing nature of computers and networks, the description of computer system 500 depicted in the figure is intended only as a specific example. Many other configurations having more or fewer components than the system depicted in the figure are possible. For example, customized hardware might also be used and/or particular elements might be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or a combination. Further, connection to other computing devices, such as network input/output devices, may be employed. Based on the disclosure and teachings provided herein, a person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate other ways and/or methods to implement the various embodiments.

With reference now to FIG. 6, a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the communication network is shown. Specifically, FIG. 6 depicts one hardware configuration in which messages are exchanged between a source hub 602 and a terminal hub 606 via the communication network 120 that can include one or several intermediate hubs 604. In some embodiments, the source hub 602 can be any one or several components of the content distribution network generating and initiating the sending of a message, and the terminal hub 606 can be any one or several components of the content distribution network 100 receiving and not re-sending the message. In some embodiments, for example, the source hub 602 can be one or several of the user device 106, the supervisor device 110, and/or the server 102, and the terminal hub 606 can likewise be one or several of the user device 106, the supervisor device 110, and/or the server 102. In some embodiments, the intermediate hubs 604 can include any computing device that receives the message and resends the message to a next node.

As seen in FIG. 6, in some embodiments, each of the hubs 602, 604, 606 can be communicatively connected with the data store 104. In such an embodiments, some or all of the hubs 602, 604, 606 can send information to the data store 104 identifying a received message and/or any sent or resent message. This information can, in some embodiments, be used to determine the completeness of any sent and/or received messages and/or to verify the accuracy and completeness of any message received by the terminal hub 606.

In some embodiments, the communication network 120 can be formed by the intermediate hubs 604. In some embodiments, the communication network 120 can comprise a single intermediate hub 604, and in some embodiments, the communication network 120 can comprise a plurality of intermediate hubs. In one embodiment, for example, and as depicted in FIG. 6, the communication network 120 includes a first intermediate hub 604-A and a second intermediate hub 604-B.

With reference now to FIG. 7, a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of user device 106 and supervisor device 110 communication is shown. In some embodiments, for example, a user may have multiple devices that can connect with the content distribution network 100 to send or receive information. In some embodiments, for example, a user may have a personal device such as a mobile device, a smartphone, a tablet, a smartwatch, a laptop, a PC, or the like. In some embodiments, the other device can be any computing device in addition to the personal device. This other device can include, for example, a laptop, a PC, a smartphone, a tablet, a smartwatch, or the like. In some embodiments, the other device differs from the personal device in that the personal device is registered as such within the content distribution network 100 and the other device is not registered as a personal device within the content distribution network 100.

Specifically with respect to FIG. 7 in view of the devices illustrated with FIG. 1, the user device 106 can include a personal user device 106-A and one or several other user devices 106-B. In some embodiments, one or both of the personal user device 106-A and the one or several other user devices 106-B can be communicatively connected to the content management server 102 and/or to the navigation system 122. Similarly, the supervisor device 110 can include a personal supervisor device 110-A and one or several other supervisor devices 110-B. In some embodiments, one or both of the personal supervisor device 110-A and the one or several other supervisor devices 110-B can be communicatively connected to the content management server 102 and/or to the navigation system 122.

In some embodiments, the content distribution network can send one or more alerts to one or more user devices 106 and/or one or more supervisor devices 110 via, for example, the communication network 120. In some embodiments, the receipt of the alert can result in the launching of an application within the receiving device, and in some embodiments, the alert can include a link that, when selected, launches the application or navigates a web-browser of the device of the selector of the link to page or portal associated with the alert.

In some embodiments, for example, the providing of this alert can include the identification of one or several user devices 106 and/or student-user accounts associated with the student-user and/or one or several supervisor devices 110 and/or supervisor-user accounts associated with the supervisor-user. After these one or several devices 106, 110 and/or accounts have been identified, the providing of this alert can include determining an active device of the devices 106, 110 based on determining which of the devices 106, 110 and/or accounts are actively being used, and then providing the alert to that active device.

Specifically, if the user is actively using one of the devices 106, 110 such as the other user device 106-B and the other supervisor device 110-B, and/or accounts, the alert can be provided to the user via that other device 106-B, 110-B, and/or account that is actively being used. If the user is not actively using another device 106-B, 110-B, and/or account, a personal device 106-A, 110-A device, such as a smart phone or tablet, can be identified and the alert can be provided to this personal device 106-A, 110-A. In some embodiments, the alert can include code to direct the default device to provide an indicator of the received alert such as, for example, an oral, tactile, or visual indicator of receipt of the alert.

In some embodiments, the recipient device 106, 110 of the alert can provide an indication of receipt of the alert. In some embodiments, the presentation of the alert can include the control of the I/O subsystem 526 to, for example, provide an oral, tactile, and/or visual indicator of the alert and/or of the receipt of the alert. In some embodiments, this can include controlling a screen of the supervisor device 110 to display the alert, data contained in alert and/or an indicator of the alert.

With reference now to FIG. 8, a schematic illustration of one embodiment of an application stack, and particularly of a stack 650 is shown. In some embodiments, the content distribution network 100 can comprise a portion of the stack 650 that can include an infrastructure layer 652, a platform layer 654, an applications layer 656, and a products layer 658. In some embodiments, the stack 650 can comprise some or all of the layers, hardware, and/or software to provide one or several desired functionalities and/or productions.

As depicted in FIG. 8, the infrastructure layer 652 can include one or several servers, communication networks, data stores, privacy servers, and the like. In some embodiments, the infrastructure layer can further include one or several user devices 106 and/or supervisor devices 110 connected as part of the content distribution network.

The platform layer can include one or several platform software programs, modules, and/or capabilities. These can include, for example, identification services, security services, and/or adaptive platform services 660. In some embodiments, the identification services can, for example, identify one or several users, components of the content distribution network 100, or the like. The security services can monitor the content distribution network for one or several security threats, breaches, viruses, malware, or the like. The adaptive platform services 660 can receive information from one or several components of the content distribution network 100 and can provide predictions, models, recommendations, or the like based on that received information. The functionality of the adaptive platform services 660 will be discussed in greater detail in FIGS. 9-11, below.

The applications layer 656 can include software or software modules upon or in which one or several product softwares or product software modules can operate. In some embodiments, the applications layer 656 can include, for example, a management system, record system, or the like. In some embodiments, the management system can include, for example, a Learning Management System (LMS), a Content Management System (CMS), or the like. The management system can be configured to control the delivery of one or several resources to a user and/or to receive one or several responses from the user. In some embodiments, the records system can include, for example, a virtual gradebook, a virtual counselor, or the like.

The products layer can include one or several software products and/or software module products. These software products and/or software module products can provide one or several services and/or functionalities to one or several users of the software products and/or software module products.

With reference now to FIG. 9-11, schematic illustrations of embodiments of communication and processing flow of modules within the content distribution network 100 are shown. In some embodiments, the communication and processing can be performed in portions of the platform layer 654 and/or applications layer 656. FIG. 9 depicts a first embodiment of such communications or processing that can be in the platform layer 654 and/or applications layer 656 via the message channel 412.

The platform layer 654 and/or applications layer 656 can include a plurality of modules that can be embodied in software or hardware. In some embodiments, some or all of the modules can be embodied in hardware and/or software at a single location, and in some embodiments, some or all of these modules can be embodied in hardware and/or software at multiple locations. These modules can perform one or several processes including, for example, a presentation process 670, a response process 676, a summary model process 680, and a packet selection process 684.

The presentation process 670 can, in some embodiments, include one or several method and/or steps to deliver content to one or several user devices 106 and/or supervisor devices 110. The presentation process 670 can be performed by a presenter module 672 and a view module 674. The presenter module 672 can be a hardware or software module of the content distribution network 100, and specifically of the server 102. In some embodiments, the presenter module 672 can include one or several portions, features, and/or functionalities that are located on the server 102 and/or one or several portions, features, and/or functionalities that are located on the user device 106. In some embodiments, the presenter module 672 can be embodied in the presentation system 408.

The presenter module 672 can control the providing of content to one or several user devices 106 and/or supervisor devices 110. Specifically, the presenter module 672 can control the generation of one or several messages to provide content to one or several desired user devices 106 and/or supervisor devices 110. The presenter module 672 can further control the providing of these one or several messages to the desired one or several desired user devices 106 and/or supervisor devices 110. Thus, in some embodiments, the presenter module 672 can control one or several features of the communications subsystem 532 to generate and send one or several electrical signals comprising content to one or several user devices 106 and/or supervisor devices 110.

In some embodiments, the presenter module 672 can control and/or manage a portion of the presentation functions of the presentation process 670, and can specifically manage an “outer loop” of presentation functions. As used herein, the outer loop refers to tasks relating to the tracking of a user's progress through all or a portion of a group of data packets. In some embodiments, this can include the identification of one or several completed data packets or nodes and/or the non-adaptive selection of one or several next data packets or nodes according to, for example, one or several fixed rules. Such non-adaptive selection does not rely on the use of predictive models, but rather on rules identifying next data packets based on data relating to the completion of one or several previously completed data packets or assessments and/or whether one or several previously completed data packets were successfully completed.

In some embodiments, and due to the management of the outer loop of presentation functions including the non-adaptive selection of one or several next data packets, nodes, or tasks by the presenter module, the presenter module can function as a recommendation engine referred to herein as a first recommendation engine or a rules-based recommendation engine. In some embodiments, the first recommendation engine can be configured to select a next node for a user based on one or all of the user's current location in the content network; potential next nodes; the user's history including the user's previous responses; and one or several guard conditions associated with the potential next nodes. In some embodiments, a guard condition defines one or several prerequisites for entry into, or exit from, a node.

In some embodiments, the presenter module 672 can include a portion located on the server 102 and/or a portion located on the user device 106. In some embodiments, the portion of the presenter module 672 located on the server 102 can receive data packet information and provide a subset of the received data packet information to the portion of the presenter module 672 located on the user device 106. In some embodiments, this segregation of functions and/or capabilities can prevent solution data from being located on the user device 106 and from being potentially accessible by the user of the user device 106.

In some embodiments, the portion of the presenter module 672 located on the user device 106 can be further configured to receive the subset of the data packet information from the portion of the presenter module 672 located on the server 102 and provide that subset of the data packet information to the view module 674. In some embodiments, the portion of the presenter module 672 located on the user device 106 can be further configured to receive a content request from the view module 674 and to provide that content request to the portion of the presenter module 674 located on the server 102.

The view module 674 can be a hardware or software module of some or all of the user devices 106 and/or supervisor devices 110 of the content distribution network 100. The view module 674 can receive one or several electrical signals and/or communications from the presenter module 672 and can provide the content received in those one or several electrical signals and/or communications to the user of the user device 106 and/or supervisor device 110 via, for example, the I/O subsystem 526.

In some embodiments, the view module 674 can control and/or monitor an “inner loop” of presentation functions. As used herein, the inner loop refers to tasks relating to the tracking and/or management of a user's progress through a data packet. This can specifically relate to the tracking and/or management of a user's progression through one or several pieces of content, questions, assessments, and/or the like of a data packet. In some embodiments, this can further include the selection of one or several next pieces of content, next questions, next assessments, and/or the like of the data packet for presentation and/or providing to the user of the user device 106.

In some embodiments, one or both of the presenter module 672 and the view module 674 can comprise one or several presentation engines. In some embodiments, these one or several presentation engines can comprise different capabilities and/or functions. In some embodiments, one of the presentation engines can be configured to track the progress of a user through a single data packet, task, content item, or the like, and in some embodiments, one of the presentation engines can track the progress of a user through a series of data packets, tasks, content items, or the like.

The response process 676 can comprise one or several methods and/or steps to evaluate a response. In some embodiments, this can include, for example, determining whether the response comprises a desired response and/or an undesired response. In some embodiments, the response process 676 can include one or several methods and/or steps to determine the correctness and/or incorrectness of one or several received responses. In some embodiments, this can include, for example, determining the correctness and/or incorrectness of a multiple choice response, a true/false response, a short answer response, an essay response, or the like. In some embodiments, the response processor can employ, for example, natural language processing, semantic analysis, or the like in determining the correctness or incorrectness of the received responses.

In some embodiments, the response process 676 can be performed by a response processor 678. The response processor 678 can be a hardware or software module of the content distribution network 100, and specifically of the server 102. In some embodiments, the response processor 678 can be embodied in the response system 406. In some embodiments, the response processor 678 can be communicatively connected to one or more of the modules of the presentation process 670 such as, for example, the presenter module 672 and/or the view module 674. In some embodiments, the response processor 678 can be communicatively connected with, for example, the message channel 412 and/or other components and/or modules of the content distribution network 100.

The summary model process 680 can comprise one or several methods and/or steps to generate and/or update one or several models. In some embodiments, this can include, for example, implementing information received either directly or indirectly from the response processor 678 to update one or several models. In some embodiments, the summary model process 680 can include the update of a model relating to one or several user attributes such as, for example, a user skill model, a user knowledge model, a learning style model, or the like. In some embodiments, the summary model process 680 can include the update of a model relating to one or several content attributes including attributes relating to a single content item and/or data packet and/or attributes relating to a plurality of content items and/or data packets. In some embodiments, these models can relate to an attribute of the one or several data packets such as, for example, difficulty, discrimination, required time, or the like.

In some embodiments, the summary model process 680 can be performed by the model engine 682. In some embodiments, the model engine 682 can be a hardware or software module of the content distribution network 100, and specifically of the server 102. In some embodiments, the model engine 682 can be embodied in the summary model system 404.

In some embodiments, the model engine 682 can be communicatively connected to one or more of the modules of the presentation process 760 such as, for example, the presenter module 672 and/or the view module 674, can be connected to the response processor 678 and/or the recommendation. In some embodiments, the model engine 682 can be communicatively connected to the message channel 412 and/or other components and/or modules of the content distribution network 100.

The packet selection process 684 can comprise one or several steps and/or methods to identify and/or select a data packet for presentation to a user. In some embodiments, this data packet can comprise a plurality of data packets. In some embodiments, this data packet can be selected according to one or several models updated as part of the summary model process 680.

In some embodiments, this data packet can be selected according to one or several rules, probabilities, models, or the like. In some embodiments, the one or several data packets can be selected by the combination of a plurality of models updated in the summary model process 680 by the model engine 682. In some embodiments, these one or several data packets can be selected by a recommendation engine 686. The recommendation engine 686 can be a hardware or software module of the content distribution network 100, and specifically of the server 102. In some embodiments, the recommendation engine 686 can be embodied in the packet selection system 402. In some embodiments, the recommendation engine 686 can be communicatively connected to one or more of the modules of the presentation process 670, the response process 676, and/or the summary model process 680 either directly and/or indirectly via, for example, the message channel.

In some embodiments, and as depicted in FIG. 9, a presenter module 672 can receive a data packet for presentation to a user device 106. This data packet can be received, either directly or indirectly, from a recommendation engine 686. In some embodiments, for example, the presenter module 672 can receive a data packet for providing to a user device 106 from the recommendation engine 686, and in some embodiments, the presenter module 672 can receive an identifier of a data packet for providing to a user device 106 via a view module 674. This can be received from the recommendation engine 686 via a message channel 412. Specifically, in some embodiments, the recommendation engine 686 can provide data to the message channel 412 indicating the identification and/or selection of a data packet for providing to a user via a user device 106. In some embodiments, this data indicating the identification and/or selection of the data packet can identify the data packet and/or can identify the intended recipient of the data packet.

The message channel 412 can output this received data in the form of a data stream 690 which can be received by, for example, the presenter module 672, the model engine 682, and/or the recommendation engine 686. In some embodiments, some or all of the presenter module 672, the model engine 682, and/or the recommendation engine 686 can be configured to parse and/or filter the data stream 690 to identify data and/or events relevant to their operation. Thus, for example, the presenter module 672 can be configured to parse the data stream for information and/or events relevant to the operation of the presenter module 672.

In some embodiments, the presenter module 672 can, extract the data packet from the data stream 690 and/or extract data identifying the data packet and/or indicating the selecting of a data packet from the data stream. In the event that data identifying the data packet is extracted from the data stream 690, the presenter module 672 can request and receive the data packet from the database server 104, and specifically from the content library database 303. In embodiments in which data indicating the selection of a data packet is extracted from the data stream 690, the presenter module 672 can request and receive identification of the data packet from the recommendation engine 686 and then request and receive the data packet from the database server 104, and specifically from the content library database 303, and in some embodiments in which data indicating the selection of a data packet is extracted from the data stream 690, the presenter module 672 can request and receive the data packet from the recommendation engine 686.

The presenter module can then, provide the data packet and/or portions of the data packet to the view module 674. In some embodiments, for example, the presenter module 672 can retrieve one or several rules and/or conditions that can be, for example, associated with the data packet and/or stored in the database server 104. In some embodiments, these rules and/or conditions can identify portions of a data packet for providing to the view module 674 and/or portions of a data packet to not provide to the view module 674. In some embodiments, for example, sensitive portions of a data packet, such as, for example, solution information to any questions associated with a data packet, is not provided to the view module 674 to prevent the possibility of undesired access to those sensitive portions of the data packet. Thus, in some embodiments, the one or several rules and/or conditions can identify portions of the data packet for providing to the view module 674 and/or portions of the data packet for not providing to the view module.

In some embodiments, the presenter module 672 can, according to the one or more rules and/or conditions, generate and transmit an electronic message containing all or portions of the data packet to the view module 674. The view module 674 can receive these all or portions of the data packet and can provide all or portions of this information to the user of the user device 106 associated with the view module 674 via, for example, the I/O subsystem 526. In some embodiments, as part of the providing of all or portions of the data packet to the user of the view module 674, one or several user responses can be received by the view module 674. In some embodiments, these one or several user responses can be received via the I/O subsystem 526 of the user device 106.

After one or several user responses have been received, the view module 674 can provide the one or several user responses to the response processor 678. In some embodiments, these one or several responses can be directly provided to the response processor 678, and in some embodiments, these one or several responses can be provided indirectly to the response processor 678 via the message channel 412.

After the response processor 678 receives the one or several responses, the response processor 678 can determine whether the responses are desired responses and/or the degree to which the received responses are desired responses. In some embodiments, the response processor can make this determination via, for example, use of one or several techniques, including, for example, natural language processing (NLP), semantic analysis, or the like.

In some embodiments, the response processor can determine whether a response is a desired response and/or the degree to which a response is a desired response with comparative data which can be associated with the data packet. In some embodiments, this comparative data can comprise, for example, an indication of a desired response and/or an indication of one or several undesired responses, a response key, a response rubric comprising one or several criterion for determining the degree to which a response is a desired response, or the like. In some embodiments, the comparative data can be received as a portion of and/or associated with a data packet. In some embodiments, the comparative data can be received by the response processor 678 from the presenter module 672 and/or from the message channel 412. In some embodiments, the response data received from the view module 674 can comprise data identifying the user and/or the data packet or portion of the data packet with which the response is associated. In some embodiments in which the response processor 678 merely receives data identifying the data packet and/or portion of the data packet associated with the one or several responses, the response processor 678 can request and/or receive comparative data from the database server 104, and specifically from the content library database 303 of the database server 104.

After the comparative data has been received, the response processor 678 determines whether the one or several responses comprise desired responses and/or the degree to which the one or several responses comprise desired responses. The response processor can then provide the data characterizing whether the one or several responses comprises desired responses and/or the degree to which the one or several responses comprise desired responses to the message channel 412. The message channel can, as discussed above, include the output of the response processor 678 in the data stream 690 which can be constantly output by the message channel 412.

In some embodiments, the model engine 682 can subscribe to the data stream 690 of the message channel 412 and can thus receive the data stream 690 of the message channel 412 as indicated in FIG. 9. The model engine 682 can monitor the data stream 690 to identify data and/or events relevant to the operation of the model engine. In some embodiments, the model engine 682 can monitor the data stream 690 to identify data and/or events relevant to the determination of whether a response is a desired response and/or the degree to which a response is a desired response.

When a relevant event and/or relevant data is identified by the model engine, the model engine 682 can take the identified relevant event and/or relevant data and modify one or several models. In some embodiments, this can include updating and/or modifying one or several models relevant to the user who provided the responses, updating and/or modifying one or several models relevant to the data packet associated with the responses, and/or the like. In some embodiments, these models can be retrieved from the database server 104, and in some embodiments, can be retrieved from the model data source 309 of the database server 104.

After the models have been updated, the updated models can be stored in the database server 104. In some embodiments, the model engine 682 can send data indicative of the event of the completion of the model update to the message channel 412. The message channel 412 can incorporate this information into the data stream 690 which can be received by the recommendation engine 686. The recommendation engine 686 can monitor the data stream 690 to identify data and/or events relevant to the operation of the recommendation engine 686. In some embodiments, the recommendation engine 686 can monitor the data stream 690 to identify data and/or events relevant to the updating of one or several models by the model engine 682.

When the recommendation engine 686 identifies information in the data stream 690 indicating the completion of the summary model process 680 for models relevant to the user providing the response and/or for models relevant to the data packet provided to the user, the recommendation engine 686 can identify and/or select a next data packet for providing to the user and/or to the presentation process 470. In some embodiments, this selection of the next data packet can be performed according to one or several rules and/or conditions. After the next data packet has been selected, the recommendation engine 686 can provide information to the model engine 682 identifying the next selected data packet and/or to the message channel 412 indicating the event of the selection of the next content item. After the message channel 412 receives information identifying the selection of the next content item and/or receives the next content item, the message channel 412 can include this information in the data stream 690 and the process discussed with respect to FIG. 9 can be repeated.

With reference now to FIG. 10, a schematic illustration of a second embodiment of communication or processing that can be in the platform layer 654 and/or applications layer 656 via the message channel 412 is shown. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 10, the data packet provided to the presenter module 672 and then to the view module 674 does not include a prompt for a user response and/or does not result in the receipt of a user response. As no response is received, when the data packet is completed, nothing is provided to the response processor 678, but rather data indicating the completion of the data packet is provided from one of the view module 674 and/or the presenter module 672 to the message channel 412. The data is then included in the data stream 690 and is received by the model engine 682 which uses the data to update one or several models. After the model engine 682 has updated the one or several models, the model engine 682 provides data indicating the completion of the model updates to the message channel 412. The message channel 412 then includes the data indicating the completion of the model updates in the data stream 690 and the recommendation engine 686, which can subscribe to the data stream 690, can extract the data indicating the completion of the model updates from the data stream 690. The recommendation engine 686 can then identify a next one or several data packets for providing to the presenter module 672, and the recommendation engine 686 can then, either directly or indirectly, provide the next one or several data packets to the presenter module 672.

With reference now to FIG. 11, a schematic illustration of an embodiment of dual communication, or hybrid communication, in the platform layer 654 and/or applications layer 656 is shown. Specifically, in this embodiment, some communication is synchronous with the completion of one or several tasks and some communication is asynchronous. Thus, in the embodiment depicted in FIG. 11, the presenter module 672 communicates synchronously with the model engine 682 via a direct communication 692 and communicates asynchronously with the model engine 682 via the message channel 412.

Specifically, and with reference to FIG. 11, the presenter module 672 can receive and/or select a data packet for presentation to the user device 106 via the view module 674. In some embodiments, the presenter module 672 can identify all or portions of the data packet that can be provided to the view module 674 and portions of the data packet for retaining form the view module 674. In some embodiments, the presenter module can provide all or portions of the data packet to the view module 674. In some embodiments, and in response to the receipt of all or portions of the data packet, the view module 674 can provide a confirmation of receipt of the all or portions of the data packet and can provide those all or portions of the data packet to the user via the user device 106. In some embodiments, the view module 674 can provide those all or portions of the data packet to the user device 106 while controlling the inner loop of the presentation of the data packet to the user via the user device 106.

After those all or portions of the data packet have been provided to the user device 106, a response indicative of the completion of one or several tasks associated with the data packet can be received by the view module 674 from the user device 106, and specifically from the I/O subsystem 526 of the user device 106. In response to this receive, the view module 674 can provide an indication of this completion status to the presenter module 672 and/or can provide the response to the response processor 678.

After the response has been received by the response processor 678, the response processor 678 can determine whether the received response is a desired response. In some embodiments, this can include, for example, determining whether the response comprises a correct answer and/or the degree to which the response comprises a correct answer.

After the response processor has determined whether the received response is a desired response, the response processor 678 can provide an indicator of the result of the determination of whether the received response is a desired response to the presenter module 672. In response to the receipt of the indicator of whether the result of the determination of whether the received response is a desired response, the presenter module 672 can synchronously communicate with the model engine 682 via a direct communication 692 and can asynchronously communicate with model engine 682 via the message channel 412. In some embodiments, the synchronous communication can advantageously include two-way communication between the model engine 682 and the presenter module 672 such that the model engine 682 can provide an indication to the presenter module 672 when model updating is completed by the model engine.

After the model engine 682 has received one or both of the synchronous and asynchronous communications, the model engine 682 can update one or several models relating to, for example, the user, the data packet, or the like. After the model engine 682 has completed the updating of the one or several models, the model engine 682 can send a communication to the presenter module 672 indicating the completion of the updated one or several modules.

After the presenter module 672 receives the communication indicating the completion of the updating of the one or several models, the presenter module 672 can send a communication to the recommendation engine 686 requesting identification of a next data packet. As discussed above, the recommendation engine 686 can then retrieve the updated model and retrieve the user information. With the updated models and the user information, the recommendation engine can identify a next data packet for providing to the user, and can provide the data packet to the presenter module 672. In some embodiments, the recommendation engine 686 can further provide an indication of the next data packet to the model engine 682, which can use this information relating to the next data packet to update one or several models, either immediately, or after receiving a communication from the presenter module 672 subsequent to the determination of whether a received response for that data packet is a desired response.

With reference now to FIG. 12, a schematic illustration of one embodiment of the presentation process 670 is shown. Specifically, FIG. 12 depicts multiple portions of the presenter module 672, namely, the external portion 673 and the internal portion 675. In some embodiments, the external portion 673 of the presenter module 672 can be located in the server, and in some embodiments, the internal portion 675 of the presenter module 672 can be located in the user device 106. In some embodiments, the external portion 673 of the presenter module can be configured to communicate and/or exchange data with the internal portion 675 of the presenter module 672 as discussed herein. In some embodiments, for example, the external portion 673 of the presenter module 672 can receive a data packet and can parse the data packet into portions for providing to the internal portion 675 of the presenter module 672 and portions for not providing to the internal portion 675 of the presenter module 672. In some embodiments, the external portion 673 of the presenter module 672 can receive a request for additional data and/or an additional data packet from the internal portion 675 of the presenter module 672. In such an embodiment, the external portion 673 of the presenter module 672 can identify and retrieve the requested data and/or the additional data packet from, for example, the database server 104 and more specifically from the content library database 104.

With reference now to FIG. 13, a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a process 440 for data management is shown. In some embodiments, the process 440 can be performed by the content management server 102, and more specifically by the presentation system 408 and/or by the presentation module or presentation engine. In some embodiments, the process 440 can be performed as part of the presentation process 670.

The process 440 begins at block 442, wherein a data packet is identified. In some embodiments, the data packet can be a data packet for providing to a student-user. In some embodiments, the data packet can be identified based on a communication received either directly or indirectly from the recommendation engine 686.

After the data packet has been identified, the process 440 proceeds to block 444, wherein the data packet is requested. In some embodiments, this can include the requesting of information relating to the data packet such as the data forming the data packet. In some embodiments, this information can be requested from, for example, the content library database 303. After the data packet has been requested, the process 440 proceeds to block 446, wherein the data packet is received. In some embodiments, the data packet can be received by the presentation system 408 from, for example, the content library database 303.

After the data packet has been received, the process 440 proceeds to block 448, wherein one or several data components are identified. In some embodiments, for example, the data packet can include one or several data components which can, for example, contain different data. In some embodiments, one of these data components, referred to herein as a presentation component, can include content for providing to the user, which content can include one or several requests and/or questions and/or the like. In some embodiments, one of these data components, referred to herein as a response component, can include data used in evaluating one or several responses received from the user device 106 in response to the data packet, and specifically in response to the presentation component and/or the one or several requests and/or questions of the presentation component. Thus, in some embodiments, the response component of the data packet can be used to ascertain whether the user has provided a desired response or an undesired response.

After the data components have been identified, the process 440 proceeds to block 450, wherein a delivery data packet is identified. In some embodiments, the delivery data packet can include the one or several data components of the data packets for delivery to a user such as the user via the user device 106. In some embodiments, the delivery packet can include the presentation component, and in some embodiments, the delivery packet can exclude the response packet. After the delivery data packet has been generated, the process 440 proceeds to block 452, wherein the delivery data packet is provided to the user device 106 and more specifically to the view module 674. In some embodiments, this can include providing the delivery data packet to the user device 106 via, for example, the communication network 120.

After the delivery data packet has been provided to the user device 106, the process 440 proceeds to block 454, wherein the data packet and/or one or several components thereof is sent to and/or provided to the response processor 678. In some embodiments, this sending of the data packet and/or one or several components thereof to the response processor can include receiving a response from the user, and sending the response to the user to the response processor simultaneous with the sending of the data packet and/or one or several components thereof to the response processor. In some embodiments, for example, this can include providing the response component to the response processor. In some embodiments, the response component can be provided to the response processor from the presentation system 408.

With reference now to FIG. 14, a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a process 460 for evaluating a response is shown. In some embodiments, the process can be performed as a part of the response process 676 and can be performed by, for example, the response system 406 and/or by the response processor 678. In some embodiments, the process 460 can be performed by the response system 406 in response to the receipt of a response, either directly or indirectly, from the user device 106 or from the view module 674.

The process 460 begins at block 462, wherein a response is received from, for example, the user device 106 via, for example, the communication network 120. After the response has been received, the process 460 proceeds to block 464, wherein the data packet associated with the response is received. In some embodiments, this can include receiving all or one or several components of the data packet such as, for example, the response component of the data packet. In some embodiments, the data packet can be received by the response processor from the presentation engine.

After the data packet has been received, the process 460 proceeds to block 466, wherein the response type is identified. In some embodiments, this identification can be performed based on data, such as metadata associated with the response. In other embodiments, this identification can be performed based on data packet information such as the response component.

In some embodiments, the response type can identify one or several attributes of the one or several requests and/or questions of the data packet such as, for example, the request and/or question type. In some embodiments, this can include identifying some or all of the one or several requests and/or questions as true/false, multiple choice, short answer, essay, or the like.

After the response type has been identified, the process 460 proceeds to block 468, wherein the data packet and the response are compared to determine whether the response comprises a desired response and/or an undesired response. In some embodiments, this can include comparing the received response and the data packet to determine if the received response matches all or portions of the response component of the data packet, to determine the degree to which the received response matches all or portions of the response component, to determine the degree to which the received response embodies one or several qualities identified in the response component of the data packet, or the like. In some embodiments, this can include classifying the response according to one or several rules. In some embodiments, these rules can be used to classify the response as either desired or undesired. In some embodiments, these rules can be used to identify one or several errors and/or misconceptions evidenced in the response. In some embodiments, this can include, for example: use of natural language processing software and/or algorithms; use of one or several digital thesauruses; use of lemmatization software, dictionaries, and/or algorithms; or the like.

After the data packet and the response have been compared, the process 460 proceeds to block 470 wherein response desirability is determined. In some embodiments this can include, based on the result of the comparison of the data packet and the response, whether the response is a desired response or is an undesired response. In some embodiments, this can further include quantifying the degree to which the response is a desired response. This determination can include, for example, determining if the response is a correct response, an incorrect response, a partially correct response, or the like. In some embodiments, the determination of response desirability can include the generation of a value characterizing the response desirability and the storing of this value in one of the databases 104 such as, for example, the user profile database 301. After the response desirability has been determined, the process 460 proceeds to block 472, wherein an assessment value is generated. In some embodiments, the assessment value can be an aggregate value characterizing response desirability for one or more of a plurality of responses. This assessment value can be stored in one of the databases 104 such as the user profile database 301.

In some embodiments, content provisioning performed in accordance with the processes of FIGS. 11 through 14 can provide significant benefits over current content provisioning with a computer, especially over current content provisioning with a computer in an educational environment. In some embodiments, content provisioning as described in FIGS. 11 through 14 can be based on real-time and dynamic prioritization that can be based on models of one or several user attributes such as user skill level, models of one or several task attributes, such as task difficulty levels, or the like. This provides the significant benefit of accurately selecting content most suited for delivery which increases the efficiency with which content is provided to the user.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods for improving content creation, content curation, input receipt, and adaptivity. Historically, education has been accomplished via direct or indirect interactions between students and one or several teachers.

While this educational model can be successful, problems arise when the number of students increases with respect to the number of teachers, when students struggle to master content, and/or when a teacher must select content for providing to one or several students.

The integration of computers into the educational space has promised to solve these problems and improve learning and educational outcomes. However, the reality has fallen short of the hoped improvements. For example, well a recommendation engine, may be able to select and recommend content for providing to a student legacy content that predates, in many instances, the current digital educational space is unavailable for presentation and is unknown to recommendation engines. Further, because of the volume of this legacy content, the bringing of this legacy content into advance educational systems is prohibitively expensive.

In other instances, what content may be provided to a student, receipt of responses from the student is limited in many ways. For example, while a student may interact with the user interface to input one or several numbers, letters, characters, such interfaces do not easily lend themselves for lengthy solution activity as may be required for evaluation of a math problem, or a math-based related problem. Further, well scoring engines may be able to evaluate a response to a problem, scoring engines have been unable to or have struggled in evaluating steps to solving a problem. Accordingly, improvements to recommendation engines, content curation engines, scoring engines, and/or other components or modules of a learning system are desired.

The present disclosure includes solutions to these problems. For instance, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for content curation and/or content creation. These systems and methods can be used to bring legacy content into the digital world by, for example, identifying traits or attributes of the legacy content, grouping portions of the legacy content, identifying learning objectives of the legacy content, or the like. Some embodiments of the present disclosure further relate to the training of one or several models for content creation and/or content curation. These embodiments, can include systems and methods whereby training of a machine learning model can be automated to thereby allow closed-loop unsupervised training. Additionally, some embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems and/or methods of content creation, according to one or several received inputs and/or systems and/or methods of content customization according to attributes extracted from one or several user profiles.

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for receiving user input at an educational system, such as the content distribution network 100. These systems enable, for example, identification of one or several steps taken to solve a problem can be presented to the user in the form of a content item. In some embodiments, the end point can be received via, for example, handwriting on a touchscreen, equation editor, OCR, voice, eye movement, handwriting, brainwave interpretation, brain coupling, scanning, a biological response, and/or photo. In some embodiments, this can include parsing of a received digital response to identify one or several steps in solving a problem.

The present disclosure relates to scoring adaptivity, and/or content recommendation. This can include the identification of one or several steps in response, the evaluation of these one or several steps in response, providing remediation based on the evaluation of these one or several steps, and/or providing next content based on the evaluation of these one or several steps. This can further include the generation of one or several profiles tracking and/or predicting a user's movement through a learning graph, such as a domain graph.

FIGS. 15 through 23. Illustrate embodiments of systems and methods for automated and direct network positioning and/or automated user interface customization. In some embodiments, automated and direct network positioning can include determining a user's position within a content structure, also referred to herein as a hierarchy, and/or within a content network. This can be achieved via the provisioning of a plurality of assessment data packets, each of which can comprise one or several questions, the receiving of user response to the provided plurality of assessment data packets, the determining of an initial position of the user within the hierarchy, and the modification of that initial position within the hierarchy based on the received responses. In some embodiments, this placement can be performed via the direct linking of the assessment data packets to the hierarchy such that each of the assessment data packets is associated with the position in the hierarchy.

The direct linking of the assessment data packets to the hierarchy stands in contrast to methods in which each assessment data packet is associated with data characterizing a difficulty. The assessment data packet. This difficulty is used to determine a user skill level, which user skill level is then translated into a location within a content network. Methods using difficulty levels present challenges, as compared to the methods disclosed herein where assessment data packets are directly linked to positions with the hierarchy, these challenges including requiring additional processing resources, requiring additional services within a product, and increasing the number of statistical models required to determine the user's position within the content network. Each of these challenges increases, the processing cost of determining the user position in the content network and specifically increases processing times, increases set up efforts as additional models need to be created and trained, and decreases accuracy due to the translation from difficulty to skill level to position.

With reference now to FIG. 15, a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a process 700 for automated determining of user position within the hierarchy is shown. The process 700 can be performed by all or portions of the content distribution network 100 including, for example, the server 102. In some embodiments, the process 700 can be performed by all or portions of the service is shown in FIGS. 9 through 12.

The process 700 begins a block 702 wherein a data packet is received. In some embodiments, the received data packet can be an assessment data packet, which assessment data packet can comprise one or several questions for providing to the user. In some embodiments, the data packet received in block 702 is a new data packet that is not previously connected and/or associated with the hierarchy, and specifically, the data packet received in block 702, is not yet linked with a position in the hierarchy. In some embodiments, in some embodiments, the data packet can be received from, for example, one or several components of the content distribution network 100 including, for example, the content server 112, the supervisor device 110, or the like.

After the data packet has been received, the process 700 proceeds to block 700 for wherein data packet metadata is retrieved and/or received. In some embodiments, the data packet metadata can be retrieved and/or received from the one or several components of the content distribution network 100 from which the data packet was received. After the data packet metadata has been retrieved and/or received, the process 700 proceeds to block 706, wherein the data packet position, the hierarchy is identified and/or determined. In some embodiments, this position is identified and/or determined based on information contained in the data packet metadata, and in some embodiments, this position, the hierarchy can be determined according to analysis of the data packet, and/or of the data packet metadata. In some embodiments, for example, a vector characterizing content of the data packet, and/or the data packet metadata can be generated and can be compared to one or several vectors characterizing content of positions within the hierarchy. Based on similarity between these vectors, the position of the data packet within the hierarchy can be determined. After the data packet position in the hierarchy has been determined, the process 700 proceeds to block 708, wherein the data packet is associated with the identified and/or determined position within the hierarchy.

A block 710. User information is received. In some embodiments, the user information can include information identifying the user such as, for example, a username, password, user login, or the like. In some embodiments, this information can further identify one or several courses, or glasses in which the user is enrolled and/or for which a placement assessment is indicated. This information can be received by the server 102 from the user device 106 via, for example, the communication network. After the user information is received, the process 700 proceeds to block 712, wherein a relevant hierarchy, and/or potential data packets are identified.

In some embodiments, the relevant hierarchy can be identified based on information received from the user, which information can identify one or several courses, or classes in which the user is enrolled and for which a placement assessment is indicated. After the hierarchy is been identified, this step can further include identifying one or several potential data packets, which potential data packets can be data packets associated with the hierarchy, and in some embodiments, can include data packets associated with the hierarchy and which have not been previously presented to the user. The hierarchy and/or the potential data packets can be identified by the server 102, and/or by one or several services of the server 102.

After the hierarchy, and/or potential data packets been identified, the process 700 proceeds to block 714, wherein an initial user location in the hierarchy is determined. In some embodiments, this user location the hierarchy can be determined based on information associated with the user, which information can be retrieved from the database server 104 and specifically from the user profile database 301. This retrieved information can, in some embodiments, identify previously determined knowledge or skill levels of user, previously determined location of the user in a hierarchy, previously completed courses, assignments, assessments, or the like. In some embodiments, the initial user location in the hierarchy can be a predetermined location, which predetermined location can be applied to users regardless of previous user interactions with the content distribution network 100. The user location the hierarchy can be determined by, for example, the server 102.

After the user location the hierarchy has been determined, the process 700 proceeds to block 716, wherein one or several assessment data packets are presented to the user. In some embodiments, these one or several assessment data packets that are presented to the user can include the data packet received in block 702. In some embodiments, each of some or all of these data packets can have a difficulty level represented by their position in the hierarchy. In some embodiments, this can include the selection of one or several assessment data packets by, for example, the packet selection process 684, and the presentation of the packets to the user via the presentation process 670.

At block 718 user responses are received. These responses can be responses to the presented assessment data packets. In some embodiments, these responses can be received by the presentation process 670, and can be provided to the response process 676, which can evaluate user responses indicated in block 720. In some embodiments, the steps of block 716, 718, and 720 can be sequentially performed, and in some embodiments, the steps of these blocks can be iteratively performed such that the first assessment data packet is presented to the user, a user response received, the user response is evaluated, and then, based on the result of the evaluation of user response, an additional data packet is presented to the user. In some embodiments, steps 714 through 720 can be iteratively repeated and until one or several termination conditions or criteria have been met as indicated in decision state 721. If these termination criteria are met, then the process 700 proceeds to block 722, if these termination criteria are not met, then the process returns to block 714.

At block 722, the user location within the hierarchy is adjusted based on the evaluation results of the user responses. In some embodiment, this adjustment can include moving the user location in the hierarchy to a more advanced position or to a less advanced position. In some embodiments, this adjustment within the hierarchy can be made according to one or several equations and/or models, which models can comprise one or several statistical models and/or one or several machine-learning models. After the user location in the hierarchy has been adjusted, the process 700 proceeds to block 724, wherein one or several content data packets are selected and presented to the user. In some embodiments, the one or several selected content data packets can include, for example, the data packet received in block 702. In some embodiments, these content data packets can be selected based on the adjusted user location in the hierarchy. These content data packets can be selected by the packet selection process 684 and can be presented to the user via the presentation process 670.

With reference now to FIG. 16, a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a process 730 for data packet presentation is shown. The process 730 can be performed as a part of or in the place of step 716 of, FIG. 15. The process 730 begins at block 732, wherein an instantaneous user location in the hierarchy is determined. This instantaneous location is the location of the user at the time of the determination of block 732, and represents the most updated user location in the hierarchy, taking into account, in some embodiments, any previously received user response. The instantaneous user location can be determined by querying the user profile database 301, which can, in some embodiments, include information relating to the user location in the hierarchy.

After the instantaneous user location is determined, the process 716 proceeds to block 734, wherein an assessment data packet is selected. This assessment data packet can be selected from the set of potential assessment data packets that can be, for example, stored in the content library database 303. In some embodiments, the assessment data packet can be selected based on the likelihood of the user correctly responding to the assessment data packet, based on the discrimination of the assessment data packet, or the like. In some embodiments, the data packet can be selected according shown in FIG. 19, below. The assessment data packet can be selected by the packet selection process 684. After the assessment data packet has been selected, the process 730 proceeds to block 736, wherein the selected assessment data packet is presented to the user. In some embodiments, the selected assessment data packet can be presented to the user according to the presentation process 670.

With reference now to FIG. 17, a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a process 740 for evaluating user responses is shown. The process 740 can be performed as a part cA or in the place of the step 720 of FIG. 15. The process 740 begins a block 742 wherein response creek. This is determined. In some embodiments, this can include receiving information from the database server 104 for determining the correctness of the received response. This information can be, in some embodiments, retrieved from the content library database 303, and/or from the evaluation database 308. In some embodiments, this information can be used by, for example, the response processor 678, to evaluate the received response. In some embodiments, the evaluation of the response can include determining whether the received response is correct, and/or the degree to which the received response is correct.

After the correctness of the responses been determined, the process 740 proceeds to block 744 wherein an adjustment to the instantaneous user location the hierarchy is determined. This adjustment can be determined based on the correctness of the received response. In some embodiments, for example, the adjustment can comprise a movement to relatively more difficult portion of the hierarchy when the response is correct, or alternatively a movement to a relatively easier portion, the hierarchy when the response is incorrect. In some embodiments, the adjustment to the user location within the hierarchy can be made by the response process 676, and/or the summary model process 680.

In some embodiments, this can include determining for a plurality of positions within the hierarchy a probability of the user correctly responding to assessment data packets of each of those plurality of positions within the hierarchy. In some embodiments, this determination can be made according to a model such as a logistic model, and more specifically to a model such as a three parameter logistic model. In some embodiments, the three parameter logistic model determines a probability of the user correctly responding to assessment data packets of a position within the hierarchy according to the user's instantaneous user location in the hierarchy. In some embodiments, the probability of a correct response for an item within the hierarchy can be calculated according to the following equation, wherein a_(i) is the item discrimination, b_(i) is the item location, c_(i) is the pseudo-guessing parameter for the item I, and θ is the instantaneous location in the hierarchy. The probability of a correct response for a location in the hierarchy can then be determined by calculating an average from the probability for correct response for some or all of the items at a location in the hierarchy.

${P_{i}(\theta)} = {c_{i} + \frac{1 - c_{i}}{1 + {\exp \left\lbrack {- {a_{i}\left( {\theta - b_{i}} \right)}} \right\rbrack}}}$

In some embodiments, b is defined as an as an integer value representing a position within the hierarchy. For example, in an embodiment in which the hierarchy represents a table of contents, each chapter in the table of content could be associated with a unique position in the hierarchy, and in such an embodiment, the value of b_(i) could be the integer value representing the chapter such that chapter 1 may be represented by the b_(i) value of “1” and chapter 22 may be represented by the b value of “22”. The value of c_(i) is indicative of the likelihood of the user correctly responding without knowing the answer. In some embodiments, the c value is set to zero, unless the assessment data packet comprises a multiple choice question, in which case, the c value is set equal to (1/(number of answer choices)). In such an embodiment in which, for example, the assessment data packet comprises a multiple choice question with four answer options, the c value is set to 0.25. The a value characterizes the degree to which a correct or incorrect response to the assessment data packet distinguishes between user skill levels. Normally, the a value is set between 0.2 and 2.0, and is generally set to 1.0.

In some embodiments, the user's instantaneous user location in the hierarchy is determined according to a estimation method, which estimation method can, in some embodiments, comprise an expected a posteriori (EAP) estimation method. One embodiment of an EAP estimation method is shown in the equations below, in which U_(q) is one of M quadrature points on the latent scale, W(U_(q)) is the point density at quadrature point U_(q) given the prior distribution, and L(θ) is the likelihood of the item responses at quadrature point U_(q).

${\hat{\theta}}_{EAP} = \frac{\sum\limits_{q = 1}^{M}{U_{q}{W\left( U_{q} \right)}{L(\theta)}}}{\sum\limits_{q = 1}^{M}{{W\left( U_{q} \right)}{L(\theta)}}}$ ${S.E._{EAP}} = \left\lbrack \frac{\sum\limits_{q = 1}^{M}{\left( {U_{q} - {\hat{\theta}}_{EAP}} \right)^{2}{W\left( U_{q} \right)}{L(\theta)}}}{\sum\limits_{q = 1}^{M}{{W\left( U_{q} \right)}{L(\theta)}}} \right\rbrack^{1/2}$

In some embodiments, L(θ) by the follow equation, in which Xi is the observed response for item i (Xi=0 for an incorrect response & Xi=1 for a correct response), I is the number of items administered, and Q(θ) is equal to 1−P(θ).

${L(\theta)} = {\prod\limits_{i = 1}^{I}\; {{P_{i}(\theta)}^{X_{i}}{Q_{i}(\theta)}^{1 - X_{i}}}}$

Estimation of the user's instantaneous location according the this exemplary embodiment disclosed herein utilized information relating to the user's previous location. In some embodiments in which previous location information does not exist, prior beliefs about a user location can be incorporated into the estimation method. In one exemplary embodiment, a uniform distribution can be used, which uniform distribution makes placement in each of the locations in the hierarchy equally probable.

After the update to the instantaneous location has been determined, the process 740 proceeds to block 746 wherein the instantaneous location is updated, and specifically, wherein the adjusted location is updated and stored in the database server 104 and specifically in the user profile database 301. In some embodiments, this can include the creating of a new instantaneous location via the application of the determined adjustment to the instantaneous location. This update to the instantaneous location can be made by the server 102, and in some embodiments, can be made by the response process 676, and/or the summary model process 680.

With reference now to FIG. 18, a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a process 750 for determining the adjustment to the instantaneous user location is shown. The process 750 can, in some embodiments, be performed in the place of, or as a part of step 722 of FIG. 15. The process 750 begins a block 752 wherein a probability of a correct response to assessment data packets from a position within the hierarchy is determined. In some embodiments, such a probability can be calculated for each of the positions within the hierarchy. This probability can be calculated according to the equations and steps outlined in paragraphs [00239]-[00243], above.

After the probability of correct response is determined for hierarchy positions, the process 750 proceeds to block 754, wherein the determined probabilities are compared to a threshold value. In some embodiments, this threshold value can be a mastery threshold, which can delineate between probabilities indicative of mastery and probabilities insufficient to indicate mastery. The mastery threshold can be retrieved from the database server 104, and specifically from the evaluation database 308. In some embodiments, the probabilities determined in block 752 can be compared to the threshold in block 754, after which comparison, the process 750 can proceed to block 756, wherein the lowest position in the hierarchy failing to have a probability indicative of mastery, or in other words, failing to meet or exceed the mastery threshold is identified. In some embodiments, this location can be identified as the updated user location in the hierarchy.

With reference now to FIG. 19, a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a process 760 for selecting an assessment data packet is shown. The process 760 can be performed, in some embodiments, as a part of or in the place of the step of block 734 of FIG. 16. The process 760 begins at block 762, wherein available data packets are identified. In some embodiments, an available data packet is a data packet such as, for example, an assessment data packet that is associated with the hierarchy, and/or that has not been previously provided to the user. In some embodiments, available data packets can be identified from assessment data packets contained in the database server 104 and specifically in the content library database 303.

After available data packets have been identified, the process 760 proceeds to block 764, wherein an information criterion for each of the data packets and/or for each of the potential data packets is calculated. This information criterion can, in some embodiments, characterize the amount of information carried by the potential data packets. In some embodiments this information criterion can comprise Fisher information that can, in some embodiments characterize the amount of information that the data packet carries, which information relates to, in some embodiments, user mastery of content associated with locations in the hierarchy, and/or to user location the hierarchy.

At block 766, an average information criterion is calculated for each position in the hierarchy. In such an embodiment, a position in the hierarchy is identified, potential data packets associated with that position are identified, information criterion for those potential data packets is retrieved, and an average value of the information criterion of those data packets is calculated. This can be repeated until average information criterion is calculated for some or all of the positions in the hierarchy. This calculation can be performed by the server 102.

After average information criterion has been calculated, the process 760 proceeds to block 768 wherein the position in the hierarchy with the highest average information criterion is identified. In some embodiments, this can include a comparison of average information criterion calculated for each of the positions in the hierarchy, and identification of the position having the highest average information criterion. After the position with the highest average information criterion has been identified, the process 760 proceeds to block 770, wherein a data packet from the identified position in the hierarchy is selected. In some embodiments, this includes randomly selecting a data packet from the identified position in the hierarchy, and/or selecting the data packet having the highest information criterion from the position in the hierarchy.

With reference now to FIG. 20, a schematic illustration of one embodiment of an exemplary user interface (UX) 800 is shown. The user interface 800 can include a plurality of Windows and/or panels through which content can be presented to the user, responses can be received from the user, and/or functionalities can be provided. These windows can include, for example, a presentation window 802 wherein content can be presented to the user, a response window 804 wherein one or several user responses can be entered, and/or facilitator menu 806. In some embodiments, the facilitator menu can include active features which can, when manipulated, provide the user with one or several mastery facilitators. These mastery facilitators can include one or several learning aids such as, for example, a demonstration of how to solve or respond to the assessment data packet, step-by-step instructions for solving and/or for responding to the assessment data packet, one or several tips or hints for solving and/or responding to the assessment data packet, or the like.

With reference now to FIG. 21, a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a process 840 for automated user interface customization is shown. The process 840 can be performed by all or portions the content distribution network 100 including for example, the server 102. The process 840 can be performed using, for example, the user interface 800 shown in FIG. 20. The process 840 begins a block 842 wherein a user identifier is received. This user identifier can comprise a username, password, user login information, a unique user identifier, or the like. After the user information identifier has been received, the process 840 proceeds to block 844 wherein the user is associated with the user identifier is identified and the user metadata of the identified user is retrieved. In some embodiments, the user can be identified based on the received user identifier, and information contained in user profile database, and likewise user metadata can be retrieved from the user profile database 301.

After the user has been identified and/or user metadata has been retrieved, the process 840 proceeds to block 846 wherein the user interface 800 is launched and/or wherein the server 102 directs the launch of the user interface 800 on the user device 106, and/or on the supervisor device 110. In some embodiments, the user interface can comprise a plurality of windows. In some embodiments, content can be presented to the user in at least one of the plurality of windows, and a user response can be received in at least one of the plurality of windows. After the user interface is then launched, the process 840 proceeds to block 848, wherein an assessment data packet is presented. In some embodiments, the presenting of the assessment data packet can include the selecting of an assessment data packet for presenting by, for example, the packet selection process 684, and/or the presenting of the packet via the presentation process 670. In some embodiments, and as a part of the presenting of the step of block 848, a response to the presented assessment data packet can be received by, for example, the presentation process 670, and can be evaluated by the response process 676.

At block 850, a readiness value is generated. The readiness value can characterize a user's progress through content and/or mastery of the content, and specifically can indicate a user's readiness to receive a mastery assessment. In some embodiments, the readiness value can be generated based on responses received from the user to the assessment data packet presented in block 848. In some embodiments, the readiness value can be calculated by the server 102, and specifically by the response process 676.

At block 852 one or several deactivation thresholds can be retrieved. The deactivation thresholds can comprises one or several values, each of which can be associated with a readiness value and functionality for deactivation when the deactivation threshold is met or exceeded. In some embodiments, the functionality for deactivation associated with the deactivation threshold can be, for example, a mastery facilitator and/or a content presentation function whereby one or several content data packets are provided to the user. In some embodiments, for example, as the user's readiness increases, one or several mastery facilitators are progressively deactivated, such that a user with a relatively higher readiness level may have access to relatively fewer mastery facilitators than a user with a relatively lower mastery level. In some embodiments, each of the deactivation thresholds is associated with a readiness value and functionality for deactivation when the deactivation threshold is met or exceeded.

After the deactivation thresholds have been retrieved, the process 840 proceeds to block 854, wherein one or several user interface functionalities are deactivated when the deactivation thresholds are met or exceeded. This deactivation of one or several functionalities can include modifying the user interface. In some embodiments, this can include determining which, if any, deactivation thresholds are met or exceeded, and deactivating functionalities associated with those deactivation thresholds. In some embodiments, for example, a deactivation threshold may be met or exceeded, which deactivation threshold is associated with deactivation of one or several content presentation functionalities of the user interface 800, and/or the deactivation threshold is associated with deactivation of one or several of the mastery facilitators of the user interface 800. In embodiments in which a functionality is deactivated, the user interface 800 may change according to the deactivation to remove indication of the deactivated functionality from the user interface 800, to change the appearance of the deactivated functionality such as by, for example, greying-out the deactivated functionality, or the like.

In some embodiments, functionalities can be deactivated in a predetermined order such as, for example, from most helpful to least helpful. Thus, in one embodiment, a demonstration of how to solve or respond to the assessment data packet may be deactivated when a first, lowest deactivation threshold is met, a step-by-step instructions for solving and/or for responding to the assessment data packet may be deactivated when a second, intermediate deactivation threshold is met, and, one or several tips or hints for solving and/or responding to the assessment data packet can be deactivated when a third, highest deactivation threshold is met. In such an embodiment, a relatively lower deactivation threshold indicates a relatively lower level of readiness. Thus, in such an embodiment, as the user's readiness increases, one or several mastery facilitators are progressively deactivated, such that a user with a relatively higher readiness level may have access to relatively fewer mastery facilitators than a user with a relatively lower mastery level. The functionalities of the user interface 800 can be deactivated by the server 102 and/or the device 106, 110 displaying the user interface 800.

At block 856 of the process 840, a mastery threshold is retrieved. The mastery threshold can comprise a value delineating between readiness values indicating readiness to receive a mastery assessment and readiness values indicative of non-readiness to receive the mastery assessment. The mastery threshold can, in some embodiments, be retrieved from the database server 104, and specifically from the threshold database 310. At block 858, the readiness score generated in block 850 can be compared to the retrieved mastery threshold. This comparison can be performed by the server 102 and/or the device 106, 110 displaying the user interface 800.

At decision state 860 of process 840, it is determined whether to terminate the presenting of assessment data packets to the user. In some embodiments, this determination can be made according to a comparison of one or several attributes relevant to the presentation of assessment data packets to one or several termination criteria. In some embodiments, these criteria can include, for example, a termination criteria associated with a sufficiently high readiness score, a sufficiently low readiness score, a maximum number of presented assessment data packets, a maximum length of time of presentation of assessment data packets, a maximum number of correct or incorrect responses, or the like. If it is determined not to terminated the presentation of assessment data packets, then the process 840 returns to block 848 and proceeds as discussed above. In such an embodiment, this loop continue until one or several termination criteria are met results in the iterative selection and presentation of content, and specifically assessment data packets to the user until at least one of the termination criteria is met.

If at least one of the termination criteria is met, or in some embodiments, if the readiness value exceeds the mastery threshold, then the process 840 proceeds to block 862, wherein the mastery assessment is provided. In some embodiments, this mastery assessment can determine mastery of one or several objectives associated with the user location in the hierarchy. This determination of mastery can be achieved with the presentation of one or several assessment data packets to the user, which assessment data packets can include an associated difficulty level which can be used to determine a user skill level and mastery. In some embodiments, the mastery assessment can stand in contrast to the process of FIG. 15 in that mastery can be determined based on difficulty levels separate from the hierarchy and associated with assessment data packets presented as part of the mastery assessment.

With reference now to FIG. 22, a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a process 870 for generating a readiness score is shown. The process 870 can be performed as a part of or in the place of step 850 of FIG. 21. The process 870 begins at block 872, wherein a response set is identified. In some embodiments, the response set identifies some number of responses for use in generating the readiness value. In some embodiments, the responses in the response set are received from the user and relate to presented assessment data packets. In some embodiments, the set of responses can comprise a number of the most recent response, and specifically can comprise the four most recently received responses.

After the response set has been identified, the process 870 proceeds to block 874, wherein mastery facilitator usage is determined for responses in the response set. In some embodiments, this can include identifying learning aids used in connection with the response in the response set, and specifically can include determining the number of learning aids used and/or the type of used learning aids. In some embodiments, the mastery facilitator usage can be determined based on information associated with the received responses, which information can be stored in the database server 104, and specifically in the user profile database 301. The usage of mastery facilitators can be characterized via generation of a vector indicative of the determined usage. After the mastery facilitator usage is determined, the process 870 proceeds to block 876, wherein the readiness value is generated. In some embodiments, the readiness value can generated as a function of the correctness of responses in the set of responses reduced by a value characterizing mastery facilitator usage.

A number of variations and modifications of the disclosed embodiments can also be used. Specific details are given in the above description to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it is understood that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques may be shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments.

Implementation of the techniques, blocks, steps and means described above may be done in various ways. For example, these techniques, blocks, steps and means may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For a hardware implementation, the processing units may be implemented within one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described above, and/or a combination thereof.

Also, it is noted that the embodiments may be described as a process which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a swim diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a depiction may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process is terminated when its operations are completed, but could have additional steps not included in the figure. A process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process corresponds to a function, its termination corresponds to a return of the function to the calling function or the main function.

Furthermore, embodiments may be implemented by hardware, software, scripting languages, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, and/or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, firmware, middleware, scripting language, and/or microcode, the program code or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may be stored in a machine readable medium such as a storage medium. A code segment or machine-executable instruction may represent a procedure, a function, a subprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, a software package, a script, a class, or any combination of instructions, data structures, and/or program statements. A code segment may be coupled to another code segment or a hardware circuit by passing and/or receiving information, data, arguments, parameters, and/or memory contents. Information, arguments, parameters, data, etc. may be passed, forwarded, or transmitted via any suitable means including memory sharing, message passing, token passing, network transmission, etc.

For a firmware and/or software implementation, the methodologies may be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. Any machine-readable medium tangibly embodying instructions may be used in implementing the methodologies described herein. For example, software codes may be stored in a memory. Memory may be implemented within the processor or external to the processor. As used herein the term “memory” refers to any type of long team, short team, volatile, nonvolatile, or other storage medium and is not to be limited to any particular type of memory or number of memories, or type of media upon which memory is stored.

Moreover, as disclosed herein, the term “storage medium” may represent one or more memories for storing data, including read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic RAM, core memory, magnetic disk storage mediums, optical storage mediums, flash memory devices and/or other machine readable mediums for storing information. The term “machine-readable medium” includes, but is not limited to portable or fixed storage devices, optical storage devices, and/or various other storage mediums capable of storing that contain or carry instruction(s) and/or data.

While the principles of the disclosure have been described above in connection with specific apparatuses and methods, it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as limitation on the scope of the disclosure. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for automated user interface customization, the system comprising: memory comprising a content library database comprising a plurality of assessment data packets and a plurality of content data packets; at least one server configured to: receive user information, wherein the user information identifies a user; direct launch of a user interface on a user device, the user interface comprising a plurality of windows wherein content is presented to the user and wherein a user response is received; present assessment data packets to the user via the user interface; generate a readiness value based on user responses received to the presented assessment data packets; progressively deactivate functionalities of the user interface as the readiness value increases; and trigger delivery of a mastery assessment when the readiness value exceeds a threshold.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one server is further configured to: retrieve a mastery threshold; and compare the readiness value to the mastery threshold.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein generating the readiness value comprises: identifying a set of responses received from the user; determining usage of mastery facilitators associated with the identified set of responses received from the user; and generating a score for the identified set of responses.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the functionalities of the first user interface comprise content presentation functionalities.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the content presentation functionalities comprise mastery facilitators.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one server is further configured to retrieve a plurality of deactivation thresholds, wherein each of the plurality of deactivation thresholds is associated with a readiness value and functionality for deactivation when the deactivation threshold is met or exceeded.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the deactivation of functionalities of the user interface comprises modifying the user interface.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one server is further configured to select and present content to the user until a termination criterion is met.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the termination criterion comprises a mastery threshold.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the set of responses comprises four responses.
 11. A method for automated user interface customization, the method comprising: receiving user information from a user device at at least one server, wherein the user information identifies a user; directing with the at least one server launch of a user interface on the user device, the user interface comprising a plurality of windows wherein content is presented to the user and wherein a user response is received; presenting assessment data packets to the user via the user interface; generating a readiness value based on user responses received to the presented assessment data packets; progressively deactivating functionalities of the user interface as the readiness value increases; and triggering delivery of a mastery assessment when the readiness value exceeds a threshold.
 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: retrieving a mastery threshold; and comparing the readiness value to the mastery threshold.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein generating the readiness value comprises: identifying a set of responses received from the user; determining usage of mastery facilitators associated with the identified set of responses received from the user; and generating a score for the identified set of responses.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the functionalities of the first user interface comprise content presentation functionalities.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the content presentation functionalities comprise mastery facilitators.
 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising retrieving a plurality of deactivation thresholds, wherein each of the plurality of deactivation thresholds is associated with a readiness value and functionality for deactivation when the deactivation threshold is met or exceeded.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the deactivation of functionalities of the user interface comprises modifying the user interface.
 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising iteratively selecting and presenting content to the user until a termination criterion is met.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the termination criterion comprises a mastery threshold.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the set of responses comprises four responses. 